Lingerie Giant Triumph Sells Journelle Stores

Triumph has just sold its majority stake in the Journelle stores, which it has controlled since 2012, to a mystery buyer. Journelle currently has four locations, three in New York and one in Chicago. A Los Angeles location, opened in 2017, was recently closed.

Tracey Sarmiento, Triumph’s commercial director for North America, confirmed that the stores were sold recently but insisted she did not know the identity of the buyer. She said the sale did not affect the two Triumph brand retail stores which are located on Long Island.

Journelle was founded in Manhattan in 2007 by Claire Chambers, who eventually sold a “majority stake” to Triumph (the giant Switzerland-based lingerie producer and retailer) at the end of 2012. When it announced that deal, a company press release boasted Triumph’s involvement would “drive the successful expansion of the Journelle business model across the U.S.” Chambers added, “We have found a strong partner with whom we can set about to grow both our online and brick and mortar business.” Yet the retailer’s only significant expansion in the years since was the opening the Chicago store at the end of 2015 and the Los Angeles branch in September, 2017. Chambers resigned as CEO about three years ago.

A spokesperson for Adore Me, the online lingerie retailer which recently opened its first brick and mortar shop and has announced plans to open as many as 200 to 300 more, stated the company was not the buyer of the Journelle stores. — NM