Talbots was founded in 1947 in a 17th-century colonial frame house in Hingham, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The following year, the company launched its direct mail business by distributing 3,000 black-and-white flyers to names obtained from The New Yorker magazine. Today, Talbots is a leading national specialty retailer, cataloger and e-tailer of classic apparel, shoes and accessories. At the end of fiscal year 2003, Talbots operated 977 stores throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, and its catalog operation circulated approximately 47 million catalogs worldwide. Talbots online shopping site is located at www.talbots.com. Each of its three sales channels offers the classic, high quality merchandise that has been Talbots trademark for more than 50 years.