After Buyout, Former Vitamin Shoppe President to lead Talbots

A day after Sycamore Partners acquired Talbots Inc., the private equity firm said Tuesday that it has tapped Michael Archbold, most recently president of Vitamin Shoppe, to serve as chief executive and chief financial officer of the struggling Hingham women’s clothing retailer.

Archbold will take the helm of a new leadership team that includes two former Talbots executives, Lizanne Kindler and Michele Mandell.

“By restoring the company’s focus on Talbots’ classic styling, we will be able to reconnect with the company’s historical customer base,” Archbold, who also served in executive finance positions at AutoZone and Saks Fifth Avenue, said in a statement.

The executives were introduced to employees Monday at Talbots’ Hingham headquarters by Stefan Kaluzny, a managing director of New York-based Sycamore Partners, which courted Talbots for the past year. The buyout, valued at $391 million, including debt, closed Monday. Sycamore said it expects the company to remain based in Hingham and maintain all of its other offices. A Sycamore spokesman said he is not aware of any immediate or planned job cuts.

“We are pleased to have completed this acquisition and are ready to deliver on the promise of executing on the significant potential inherent in Talbots, which remains a premier, storied brand,” Kaluzny said in a statement.

Like Archbold, Kaluzny referred to the company as a restoration project.

“Building on its 65 years of history, we will restore the Talbots brand and the company’s heritage as a leading retailer of traditional women’s apparel, shoes, and accessories,” he said.

[via Boston Globe]