Brentwood Associates plans to grow Sundance Catalog

Brentwood Associates, the Los Angeles-based private equity firm, plans to triple or quadruple the volume of Sundance Catalog, a company it acquired earlier this week.
Sundance Catalog, Brentwood’s main business, is a multichannel direct marketer and specialty retailer with current annual sales estimated at $150 million. Women’s Wear Daily reports that selling shareholders, including ACI Capital and Webster Capital, will retain a minority stake.
“We’re looking for significant growth,” said Eric Reiter, a partner at Brentwood Associates. “The opportunity to grow catalogue sales, e-commerce and retail is huge. When you get the retail machine working, there’s significant growth potential. It has the potential to really scale as a business.”
Sundance Catalog was launched in 1989 by Robert Redford. It grew out of a small general store at the base of Sundance Village, the community Redford founded in 1969 to foster artistic pursuits while preserving the land in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. Sundance Catalog currently operates stores in Corte Madera, Calif., and Denver.
“There’s clearly an opportunity for 15-plus stores over next couple of years,” Reiter said. “Our customer exists across the country. There’s a big incentive to make retail work because multichannel shoppers are the biggest spenders. We’re also going to find new ways to reach our potential customer such as social media. The brand is global,” he said, adding that Sundance could expand internationally.