Spencer's charts a new direction: Steven Silverstein: CEO: Spencer Gifts Holdings.(PROFILES OF LEADERSHIP)(Interview)

HEADQUARTERS Little Egg Harbor, N.J.

REVENUE $500 million (2007, est.)

NUMBER OF STORES 600 (Spencer's) 548 (Spirit Halloween)

AREAS OF OPERATION Nationwide, Canada and Puerto Rico

With its mix of novelty items and popular-culture totems, Spencer Gifts occupies a unique niche in American retailing. Founded in 1947 as a mail-order catalog, the company opened its first store in 1963, in the Cherry Hill Mail, Cherry Hill, N.J. Today, it operates more than 600 locations throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. (A second concept, a seasonal Halloween format called Spirit Halloween, was added in 1999.)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Spencer's has seen plenty of changes in its 60-year history. Not too long after launching its retail business, the company was acquired by entertainment giant MCA, which funded Spencer's expansion across America and turned it into a mall mainstay. But beginning in the mid-90s, a series of corporate transactions began to take a toll on the business and, in 2000, the company started falling on hard times.

In 2002, the flagging retailer was put on the block by its then-owner Vivendi Universal Entertainment, resulting in additional distractions. In 2003, it was acquired by GB Merchant Partners LLC, the private-equity arm of Gordon Bros. Group LLC. Steven Silverstein, …