• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, May 3, 2007

Kohl's, which has been wowing observers with its strong sales results in recent months, says it's not slowing down--and is announcing plans to open between 110 and 115 new stores in the year ahead.

The Menomonee Falls, Wisc.-based retailer, which opened 85 new stores in 2006, says it will continue to use all three of its formats as it expands: The standard 88,000-square-foot, one-level stores that have been the chain's mainstay; its smaller-format stores, which are 68,000 square feet; and its larger urban format. Four of these 133,000-square-foot stores, which have multiple levels, are already open.

At its annual meeting, the company also said it was on target with its remodeling efforts after launching its new prototype last fall. So far, it has remodeled 90 stores and says it will double the number of remodels in the year ahead. And in an effort to strengthen its exclusive brands, Kohl's says it plans to open a design office in New York. The new office will provide support to Chaps, Candie's, ELLE and this fall, Simply Vera/Vera Wang and Food Network. These "Only at Kohl's" brands make up 7% of the company's merchandise offerings.

Net income for the full year, which ended Feb. 3, jumped 31.7%, to $1.1 billion, and total sales for the year advanced 16%, to $15.5 billion from $13.4 billion a year ago. And comparable store sales for the year increased 5.9%.

"We will continue our focus on merchandise content, marketing, inventory management and the in-store shopping experience," the company says, "to increase share of wallet with current customers and drive in new customers."