Bealls store at Carson Mall set to employ 30

Bealls, an apparel store set to open at the Carson Mall in the spring, will employ about 30 people and is part of a retail firm with more than 850 outlets in 40 states.

The overall retail company is publicly traded and is called Stage Stores Inc., rather than Beall’s Inc., a separate and privately held, Florida-based company, as reported Saturday. A spokesman for the public company based in Houston said Monday that name confusion involving the two firms isn’t unusual.

“Yes, there are some issues,” said Rachel Goodman, a spokeswoman who noted the company she represents has 854 stores. She said the name problem keeps cropping up.

“It complicates things,” she said.

Goodman said the Texas-based firm operates under five nameplates nationwide: Bealls, Palais Royal, Stage, Peebles and Goody’s. Andrea Molette, also with Stage Stores in marketing and media, said Carson City’s new Bealls outlet will carry family apparel for infants and other ages ranging up to adults, as well as home decor. The 30 employees will work in both temporary and permanent positions, Goodman said.

“We’re definitely excited about helping bring 30 jobs to Carson City,” she said. She added that the store will feature various brand name items such as Nike, Gloria Vanderbilt, Levi’s and Cuisinart.

The Texas firm’s website said stores posted fiscal year 2012 sales of $1.6 billion. The company overall has 14,500 employees and opened 29 outlets this year.

Goodman said early 2014 rollouts of new company stores include one in March and eight in April, which is when the Carson City unit is expected to start operations in 24,268 square feet of space near the new Sportsman’s Warehouse.

The Utah-based outdoor outfitter also is slated to open in the spring, in more than 40,000 square feet of space. The pair will fill the empty space that once housed Gottschalks Department Store.

The Stage Stores’ common stock trades under the symbol SSI and closed Monday at $22.11, according to WSJ.com.

Bealls and Palais Royal were founded during the 1920s as family firms, according to the Stage Stores website. In 1988, those two firms merged and formed a private company that grew by adding others through the 1990s, and additional changes included going public under the current name. Annual sales for the firm surpassed $1 billion in 2004 for the first time, and in 2010 it launched its eCommerc website.

The store at Carson Mall will be among the largest bricks-and-mortar locations in the Stage Stores lineup. The website says the average store site 18,100 square feet.