How Spiegel Recovered

"The big story was the repositioning of the Spiegel brand," says Spiegel Brands President/CEO Geralynn Madonna. "Starting in March 2003, we realized that there was a disconnect with the [then-] current positioning and immediately began studying what Spiegel was, and relaunched it in spring 2004."

In conjunction with Spiegel/Newport News management, Spiegel Brands now is owned by Golden Gate Capital, which over the past two years also has invested in the Norm Thompson, Appleseed's and Draper's & Damon's catalogs. Principals from the deep-pocketed private equity firm ($2.5 billion worth of capital to play with) say it aims to buy up more catalog titles soon.