Club Libby Lu

Club Libby Lu was opened in 2000 by Mary Drolet and her two partners in a suburban Chicago mall based on the three partners' concepts.[1] In 2003, Saks, Inc. purchased Club Libby Lu when it had 11 stores.[2] 50 locations were opened in 2004.[1] With a bit of advertising by 2005, revenues were about $46 million, a 53% increase over 2004. In 2006, the chain had 87 locations.[3]

Two former Club Libby Lu customers, Priscilla Ceballos of Garland, Texas and her then-6-year-old daughter Alexis Menjivar, made national headlines in late December 2007 when Ceballos forced Alexis to write a fake essay about her father named Jonathon Menjivar as part of a contest held by the company where the winner would receive a Grand Prize of four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert in Albany, New York. In the essay, Priscilla explained that her husband Jonathon died in Iraq via a roadside bomb while serving in the army. While Alexis was getting a makeover in preparation for the concert at the Club Libby Lu store in Garland, reporter Byron Harris of ABC affiliate WFAA in Dallas went to the store as part of an investigation for the station and informed Ceballos that there was no man by that name who had ever served in the military or died in Iraq.[4] After the story surfaced and gained national attention, Alexis was disqualified and the tickets were awarded to another winner, who was not identified.[5][6]

In early November 2008, parent company Saks Incorporated announced that due to the dismal state of the economy they would be closing all 98 locations.[7][8]