Limited Brands Founder Seeks More Expansion Overseas

The founder of Limited Brands, Les Wexner, today told a lunch time crowd that his lingerie and beauty company will keep expanding in both the U.S. and overseas. Limited Brands has stores in 38 countries around the world and Wexner said the plan is to keep expanding. Last year, the company opened its first six Bath and Body stores in the Middle East. Wexner said he's exploring as many as 20 more store openings in countries such as Dubai and Turkey. "We believe our domestic U.S. business will probably double in size in the next five years," Wexner said. "We believe that inside of 10 years the dominant part of our business, retail sales, will be outside of the United States and will be done internationally." Limited Brands has evolved from an apparel company started in 1963 at Kingsdale shopping center in Upper Arlington to a $10 billion lingerie and beauty company. Sixty percent of the company's sales is lingerie and 40 percent is beauty products. Wexner's comments came has he accepted the International Company of the Year Award from the Columbus Council on World Affairs.