Travel

#Denver-based Gart Cos. to relocate Magellan Travel to metro Denver - The Denver Post

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Colorado Bag'n Baggage president Tom Nelson, left, discusses window displays with store manager Bill Bridges in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Bag'n Baggage, owned by Gart Capital Partners, and Magellan's Travel Supplies merged last year. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post )

Metro Denver is landing 74 new jobs as Gart Capital Partners relocates its Magellan's Travel Supplies affiliate to the Denver area.

Magellan's merged with Gart's Colorado Bag'n Baggage subsidiary in December 2011. Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Magellan's is a retailer of travel items such as clothing, wallets and purses, blankets and pillows.

Under the relocation, metro Denver will serve as the base of the company's corporate operations, catalog call center and distribution facility.

The relocation brings not only jobs but a new dimension to luggage retailer Bag'n Baggage, said Ken Gart, a partner in Denver-based Gart Capital Partners.

"Magellan's has a broader kind of romance image," he said. "We'll be looking to expand on that image."

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Colorado Bag'n Baggage stores stock a variety of sometimes-unexpected travel items. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post )

Magellan's operates retail stores in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, but most of its business is done with 1.8 million catalog and e-commerce customers.

Those customers will be served from the new metro-Denver call center that will share facilities with the new distribution center.

Two warehouse sites along the Interstate 70 corridor near I-225 are being considered for the 50,000-square-foot center.

Gart plans to open Magellan's retail stores in metro Denver and elsewhere nationally in the next few years, said Tom Nelson, president of CBNB/Magellans LLC.

"The Magellan vision is to create a concept for the traveler and offer solutions for the traveler," he said. "We feel we can take that vision and expand it."

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Nelson said six to 10 Magellan's employees in Santa Barbara are relocating to Denver. The remainder of the 74 positions will be hired locally.

"You look at the cost of real estate in Santa Barbara, and as you can imagine, it's not the cheapest market to operate in," Nelson said. "To not have all the corporate functions rolled into one location, you lose a lot of synergies."

Gart Capital Partners' portfolio includes GolfTEC, Swoozie's, the Powderhorn ski resort near Grand Junction and a stake in the Finish Line's Running Specialty Group.

Gart recently moved the operations of Running Specialty Group from Indianapolis to metro Denver and launched the website Run.com. with products and information about running.