Victoria's

Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of sultry women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It was started in San Francisco, California, in 1977 by Tufts University and Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus Roy Raymond, who felt embarrassed trying to purchase lingerie for his wife in a department store environment. Really? You wouldn't catch me setting foot into this store either! He, Roy Raymond, opened the first store at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, and quickly followed it with a mail-order catalog and three other stores. In 1982, after five years of operation, he sold the Victoria's Secret company for a cool $4 Million. It now has sales of over US $5 Billion and an operating income of $1 Billion in 2006. Outside of the US, besides stores opened in Canada, the first Victoria's Secret stores outside North America opened in Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Can you believe that? Of all places! I would have never guessed! This one is more at home, in the Dadeland Mall in South Miami.