Chico's: 5 things to know about Fort Myers company

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a New York-based private equity firm is in talks to buy Fort Myers-based Chico's FAS, the women's clothing company with more than 1,500 stores. Here are five things to know about the company from its history to its brands to how it was named.

1. THE FOUNDERS:Marvin and Helene Gralnick, who met in Mexico in 1971, started the clothing chain, which found a niche selling to women older than 35 and built it into a retail dynamo. Their business began with one 800-square-foot store onSanibel Islandthat sold Mexican folk art and cloth sweaters in 1983. Did you know they named their company after a friend's parrot? True story. By the time they retired in 2006, they had 909 stores. "What Walt was to Disney, they were to Chico's," then-CEO Scott Edmonds said in 2006.

2. THE COMPANY LEADER: According to Forbes, David F. Dyer, 64, has been a director since 2007 and has been president and chief executive officer of the company since Jan. 8, 2009. Dyer is the former president and chief executive officer of Tommy Hilfiger Corp., where he served from August 2003 until his retirement in May 2006. Dyer was retired from May 2006 until January 2009.

At Chico's annual shareholders meeting last June, several investors told news-press.com it was the talk about taking the company private that drew them to the meeting and the question came quickly during the Q&A session Dyer jokingly calls "Stump the CEO."

Instead of responding directly, however, Dyer read from a draft of a memo that he sent to all company associates.

"These rumors are just the latest in a long series of similar rumors that have surfaced over the last several years, none of which turned out to be true," Dyer read. "Unfortunately, such rumors are simply a fact of life for publicly traded companies these days."

But the company simply can't respond to every rumor, he said.

"If we come out and deny a rumor one time and don't come out and deny it the next time, people will assume the rumor is true, even if it isn't," he said.

3. FOOTPRINT IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: According to the most recent data (2013) on the Lee County Economic Development website, Chico's is the sixth largest employer in Lee County with 1,703 employees. That is just behind Wal-Mart (1,967) and ahead of the Lee County Sheriff's Office (1,535). Lee Memorial Health System was No. 1 in 2013 with 10,425 employees.

4. THE BRANDS: Chico's is built on women's clothing brands and collections that target a range of demographics, personalities and different styles – from casual to dressy. According to chicos.com the Company operates 600 Chico's boutiques and 100 outlets, 402 White House | Black Market boutiques and 45 outlets, and 206 Soma Intimates boutiques and 16 outlets, throughout the United States, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. In addition, each brand publishes its own catalog and maintains its own ecommerce website: www.chicos.com, www.whbm.com, www.soma.com and www.bostonproper.com.

5. THE FIRST LADY IS FAN :Michelle Obama, then wife of Senator Barack Obama, wore White House | Black Market's Leaf Print Dress on ABC's The View! on June 18, 208, When complimented by her co-hosts on her look, Obama responds by telling viewers where she bought the dress and says, "It's fun to look pretty." And another "celebrity" who has been attached to the company's clothing is Debbie Phelps, mother of Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps,