Crains New York - April 1, 2013 - (Page 3)

IN THE BOROUGHS QUEENS The Yext big thing in search? IBM helps kids make the grade Hot startup aims for global domination by letting businesses enhance own listings BY MATTHEW FLAMM Teams up with college on program to flag struggling students BY CARA EISENPRESS BUILDING HIS EMPIRE : CEO Howard Lerman has put Yext on the map. See YEXT on Page 20 BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI Winter’s grip on the Northeast is causing more than grumbles from fed-up New Yorkers. It’s one more blow to teen retailers that had hoped early-spring shoppers would revive struggling sales. “No one is going out and buying shorts and dresses and lightweight spring product right now, and that’s a challenge when the floors are all merchandise for spring,” said Stephanie Wissink, a retail analyst at Piper Jaffray. Aéropostale Inc., Wet Seal and Delia’s Inc. are dealing with challenges beyond bad weather as they prep for the summer’s critical backto-school season. Not only are they facing increased competition from overseas rivals Uniqlo—the Japan- ‘There has been this general exhale across Wall Street’ ese retailer has opened four New York area outposts in the past 18 months—and megastore H&M, but they are also suffering a decline in attendance at malls, which house the bulk of their retail stores. Enclosed mall traffic was down 1.1% last year compared with 2011, according to retail researcher ShopperTrak. “There has been this general exhale across the Street on holding these stocks,” said Ms. Wissink. “Some of it was a ‘hold your breath, maybe we can get through it,’ but now it feels like there’s a bit of a purge.” Aéropostale, once the recession’s darling with unbeatable prices, has seen its share price plummet nearly 40% in the past 12 months, to its current value of $13.60. It’s a long fall from just three years ago, when the 26-year-old retailer was riding high. In 2010, the company opened a massive 19,000-square-foot flagship in Times Square, with an annual rental price tag of $10 million. Now, fickle teens are shunning the chain’s youthful styles. The compa- See IBM on Page 21 STATS AND THE CITY BELLY-UP TO EASY BREATHING: Since City Hall banned cigarettes in NYC bars 10 years ago, it’s only gotten pricier and less convenient to light up. $15 PRICE FOR A PACK of Marlboro Reds, in midtown $2,738 half a pack of COST OF SMOKING Reds a day in NYC for a year 14.8% ADULT NEW YORKERS who smoked in 2012, down from 21.5% in 2002 111 SMOKE-FREE two-bedroom properties for rent last week on SmokeFreeHousingNY.com Sources: NYC mayor’s office, NYC Health Department, SmokeFree HousingNY.com and Gourmet 45 8.5% YOUNG NEW YORKERS who admitted in 2011 to smoking, down from 17.6% in 2001 but flat since ’07 bloomberg news As teens abandon malls, trendy retailers lose their cool Aéropostale, Delia’s, Wet Seal see revenues slip and stocks drop When Dinesh Rajkunar enrolled at Queensborough Community College, he knew exactly what he wanted to study: forensic science. Tests revealed, however, that the Guyanaborn South Ozone Park resident would first need to take a daunting series of remedial reading, writing and math courses. Within weeks of starting, problems were mounting and Mr. Rajkunar was growing discouraged. But just when it looked like he could become another one of the 70% of the school’s students who fail to graduate, something happened. Mr. Rajkunar’s declining performance triggered an electronic alert to school officials, who quickly reached out to help. Freshman adviser Scott Beltzer met with Mr. Rajkunar a week later, and every other week all semester. Now a sophomore, Mr. Rajkunar still periodically drops by his adviser’s office with updates on his progress. “He’s showed me what to do to have the scores to move on to new courses,”said Mr.Rajkunar,who has buck ennis On the playing field of local search, where the goal is to connect diners with restaurants and shoppers with shops, giants like Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo Local battle each other for market share. Meanwhile, a pipsqueak named Yext, whose name is meant to suggest “the next Yellow Pages,” is rooting for all of them as their partner. Yext manages online listings of large and small businesses across nearly 50 Web properties. Yext is unknown to consumers but is becoming a big name in New York tech. In March, after the company moved into its new 40,000-squarefoot headquarters at 1 Madison Ave., Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the guest of honor at the housewarming party. And for a company with such a modest-sounding job description, Yext has grand ambitions: to become part of the marketing strategy for millions of businesses around the world, all of whom need to manage their location information across a fragmenting Web. The company sets itself apart by enabling its customers to monitor, update and synchronize their listings all at once on Yext’s partner sites through its software. Businesses can also add staff bios, videos, calendars, deals, menus and photos to their listings. ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY See TEEN on Page 24 April 1, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - April 1, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
BOB PREVIDI
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
HEALTH CARE REPORT
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - April 1, 2013