Clint Engel — Furniture Today,
FORT WORTH, Texas — Marvin Girouard, chairman and CEO and 32-year veteran of Pier 1 Imports, will retire from the company Feb. 28.


Pier 1’s board has hired New York-based retail executive search firm Herbert Mines Associates to help choose a new CEO.

Girouard, 67, CEO for eight years and chairman for seven, has led the specialty retailer on an aggressive growth strategy that included branching into youth home furnishings through its Pier 1 Kids division. But more recently, the company has felt pressure from Wall Street — stymied by a series of same-store sales declines, net losses and some television and merchandising shifts that Girouard and others admit have not connected with consumers.

“I feel that it is time for me to leave in the course of a normal retirement and allow new leadership to emerge and flourish,” Girouard said.

Asked if the plan to step down is tied to a recent announcement that the chain is in talks with Iceland-based retailer Lagerinn ehf about a possible sale, Girouard said, “Not really,” other than that it defines Pier 1’s future management picture for Lagerinn should it pursue Pier 1 “to the point of purchase.”

In an interview today, Girouard said he has been looking at retirement for the past year or so and is grateful the board allowed him to choose the timing. He plans to stay involved on various corporate boards and in charity work. Other than that, he said, “I’ll take a few months … and figure out where I want to put my energy.”

When he started with the retailer in the mid 1970s, Pier was doing about $40 million in sales at about 80 stores. Today, the company has more than 1,200 stores doing nearly $2 billion.

In a statement, Pier 1 Executive Committee members Jim Hoak and Tom Thomas thanked Girouard for his contributions and said, “Our goal is for a smooth transition that can allow our associates to keep their focus on serving our customers and building shareholder value.”

In addition to leading Pier 1 through good and bad times, Girouard was instrumental in the retailer’s early move into importing from China, an accomplishment of which he is proud. With Girouard leading merchandising at the time, Pier 1 started working China in 1976 and became one the biggest buyers of Chinese handicrafts and metal and wood home furnishings.

In the years leading into 2001 and then following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as consumers’ cocooning instinct kicked in, Pier was “golden,” Girouard noted. In a six-year period it opened abut 500 stores. “That kind of exposed us to the world,” Girouard said, adding that Pier 1’s success caught the attention of Target and others who moved quickly to match Pier 1 and take a piece of the pie.

“That changed the landscape and demanded that we change,” he said, but he added that some of those changes have misfired. Most recently, the retailer’s assortment became too contemporary for the tastes of its consumer base, so it’s shifting back.

Pier 1 has posted five consecutive quarters of net losses, most recently a fiscal second quarter loss of $73.1 million that included one-time charges and an accounting change.

A big country western music fan, Girouard said he is reminded of the Merle Haggard’s song, “Someday when Things Are Good (I’m gonna leave you. I can’t seem to go when things are bad).”

“Would I like to go when we’re having 20% sales gains? You bet,” he said. But he added he’s going to be working hard over his last five months to bring the company back to better times, as Pier 1 continues to adjust its recipe for driving traffic back to its stores.

“My mantra is you can fault me for doing wrong, but you can’t fault me for doing nothing,” he said.