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Frederick's shift from fantasy to fashion pushes up sales: less-racy lingerie draws more female customers.

Article Excerpt
If you walked into a Frederick's of Hollywood Inc. store six years ago, when the company was winding its way through bankruptcy, you would have found yourself in a pink sea of lingerie so lacy and racy that it could have made a sailor blush.

In fact, some of Frederick's best customers were once sailors and other young men who wanted to buy something naughty for their girlfriend or wife.

But today, almost four years after emerging from bankruptcy, Frederick's flagship store on Hollywood Boulevard has moved across the street to sleeker digs. Sure, the new storefront displays the company's signature deep-red corset, but the merchandise inside tips more toward bras and panties in fashion colors, items not much more provocative than those found in department stores.

And the customers are less likely to be young men than young women, who are looking for items they can wear fairly often, not just for intimate evenings at home.

"When Frederick's first started, it looked like a skanky show on Hollywood Boulevard," said Al Frank of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

"Now it's totally mainstream and it's something people do that's fun. It's a fashion statement," he said.

By moving away...

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