John Beale, Post-Gazette Bob Fisch, president and chief executive officer of teen retailer rue21, in the company's simulated store at the rue21 headquarters in Cranberry. Click photo for larger image.

Not all teens have jobs at fast-food joints or big allowances or even live near a major mall where they can buy the latest jeans. It's those customers who Bob Fisch believes made the recent opening of a rue21 clothing store in the small community of Covington, La., into a big event. "People went crazy for rue21," he said.

Most Pittsburghers who aren't between the ages of 11 and 17 might never have heard of rue21, even though the chain selling low-priced jeans and T-shirts out of 250 stores in 40 states is based in quietly corporate Thorn Hill Industrial Park in Cranberry.

That's fine with Mr. Fisch, who became president and chief executive officer of the company five years ago. There's a freedom to working under the radar that he is going to miss if the retailer goes ahead as expected with an initial public offering in the next 12 to 18 months.

For now, he gets to decline to release the company's sales figures and he doesn't have to worry about Wall Street's expectations. He insists the private equity investors at Apax Partners Inc., who have helped finance the chain's growth, haven't been applying pressure to hurry things up.

Still, he thinks rue21 is almost ready to go for it -- again. The chain just opened a new 35,000-square-foot headquarters, plans to open 400 stores in the next five years and claims to have posted two straight years of double-digit sales increases in stores open at least a year. "We are becoming the dominant teen specialty value retailer in the industry," said Mr. Fisch.

That's pretty big talk for a merchant that's been along the markdown aisle and back again.

In 1998, owners of the then-235-store chain reported sales hit $160 million.

There were ambitious growth plans assisted by the arrival of investment firm Saunders Karp & Megrue. Doing an IPO was part of the long-term strategy then, too.

However, rue21's aggressive expansion coincided with an economic downturn. Mr. Fisch, a former president of the Casual Corner Group brought in to save the company in 2001, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in February 2002.

The retail chain founded by the Klein family in the mid-1970s still had potential. Its collection of low-priced stores served a niche below those of more fashionable chains, such as Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters.

The bankruptcy court breather allowed 75 stores to close almost immediately. Those kept open, which had been using a variety of names including $9.99 Stock Room and Capers, all were given the rue21 name within three months.

Inside the stores, Mr. Fisch felt strategy had gotten off-kilter, too. "They were trying to be a smaller Old Navy," he said, referring to The Gap's discount chain stocked with basics such as jeans and sweats.

He wanted to be the fast-fashion, value option for the younger kids who love shopping but don't have the heftier wallets of their collegiate brothers and sisters -- plus picking up sales from the mothers transporting their teens.

The company abandoned the idea of keeping all merchandise at $14.99 or locking itself into any price point. A 99-cent display of jewelry was dumped in favor of more expensive, more fashionable pieces. Nowadays a value product might be a version of premium denim that costs $34.99 compared with styles that run above $100 at Abercrombie.

Developing the speed, fashion and value mix required changes.

Unlike its pricier competitors, the company doesn't employ a team of designers combing the world for fashion. It buys from mostly U.S.-based suppliers who offer suggestions and then tailor designs for each client. That keeps costs down, speeds turnaround and limits the need to stock up on expensive inventory.

Buyers can order supplies of a new T-shirt and have them in the stores within several days. The distribution center in Weirton, W.Va., that used to send out trucks to the stores once a week now ships deliveries daily through FedEx Ground.

If a buyer sees a hot belt in someone else's store, it can be knocked off quickly. Merchandise that doesn't sell can be edited out almost as fast as it came in. "If we make a mistake, it'll happen for one month," said Mr. Fisch.

That's the kind of talk that investors like to hear and he knows it.

His investment friendly presentation also will focus on rue21 stores' ability to go into small strip centers and sometimes obscure locations that could not support a pricier concept. That means the chain should take awhile to run out of expansion room, a point where retailers have to develop second and third brands.

American Eagle Outfitters, which also happens to be based in the Thorn Hill office park, is in the process of developing a new brand targeting older consumers than the ones that come to its stores now. The Gap recently launched Forth & Towne, while Abercrombie has successfully established Hollister as a brand.

"Wall Street gets scared of new concepts because new concepts don't always work," Mr. Fisch said. The company is in the midst of building its accessories business, a higher profit margin area that includes shoes, jewelry and even pet gear, into a subbrand called "etc."

He feels fortunate his private equity investment partners have a track record of sticking around for a while. The original group, Saunders, Karp & Megrue, merged with Apax Partners last year but he still answers to the same people. The fund's retail investments have included Dollar Tree Stores, Ollies' Bargain Outlet and the recent $1.6 billion acquisition of Tommy Hilfiger Corp.

The equity fund's portfolio also once included The Children's Place, where Mr. Fisch has been on the board since 2004. He offers advice but the post also affords him a close view of the regulatory demands placed on public companies.

Whether or not rue21 successfully makes the leap this time will depend on factors such as the economy, the company's ability to keep up with notoriously skittish teen trends, the competition and even how well the 110-employee corporate culture survives being transplanted from a cramped, warehouse-like space to new digs with room for at least 60 more workers.

Mr. Fisch has studiously avoided talking to the media about his company for the past few years. "I wanted to show consistency," he said, citing hitting sales goals and turning a profit regularly. He hopes he has waited long enough.