Dresses, purses, shoes, slacks, towels, toys, vacuums and even a picnic set — they’re among the diverse items found in Bend’s new Kohl’s store, which managers tout as a one-stop shop.

Set to open Sunday at 9 a.m. in Bend River Promenade — and fully staffed with 120 new full- and part-time employees — Central Oregon’s newest department store is geared to meet the needs of men and women alike, said Sonny Pooni, Kohl’s district manager for Oregon and Vancouver, Wash. In particular, however, Kohl’s targets the busy woman, Pooni said.

“(We have) anything she might need — anything besides milk, I guess,” he said.

On the surface, Bend’s Kohl’s appears like many other department stores: Walk inside, and you’re immediately met with racks of the newest fashions for teens and a counter filled with men’s and women’s jewelry ranging from cross-shaped necklaces to Bulova watches.

The 64,000-square-foot store has Levi’s jeans for men and Lee Jeans for women. It has toys for toddlers, video games and other electronics for older children and plenty of other options for adults.

Kohl’s current inventory is focused toward spring and summer, said Store Manager Kevin Curry, with products like sunglasses and sandals filling a section of the store, along with brightly colored purses and jewelry.

The back of the store — lit with high-efficiency lighting to help make this Kohl’s meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards — is stuffed with shoes, towels, bed spreads, picture frames, candles and a temporary station built to sign customers up for Kohl’s charge cards. Pooni and Curry said customers who qualify for a card will receive a 20 percent discount off everything in the store for about the next 30 days.

Those who don’t qualify will receive 15 percent off, Pooni said.

Bend isn’t alone in receiving a new Kohl’s. Five other stores are opening nationally in March, with more coming in May. Pooni said Kohl’s has opened 131 stores during the last two years, bringing the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based company’s store count to 1,067.

That’s only partially telling of Kohl’s success. While most businesses’ sales shrank during the recession, Kohl’s boomed.

In its quarterly financial report, released Thursday, Kohl’s announced its fourth quarter net income rose by 28 percent compared with last year, from $336 million to $431 million. For all of 2009, net income was $991 million, compared with $885 million in 2008.

Analysts who cover retail told the Los Angeles Times that customers want discounts, coupons and midpriced products during this recession, which is why Kohl’s is doing so well.

“Things are looking good at Kohl’s,” Patrick McKeever, a retail analyst at MKM Partners, told the Times. “It seems like the company has seen more broad-based improvement across regions over the past couple of quarters. … Kohl’s really plays more into moderate consumer recovery than other retailers.”

Kohl’s is the second department store to open in Bend in about the last 1 1/2 years.

Fresno, Calif.-based Gottschalks opened a new 58,000-square-foot store in south Bend in October 2008, only to close it last July after the company filed for bankruptcy and liquidated. The building that housed Gottschalks will be converted to house two national tenants, the building’s owner said in December. The tenants have not been identified.

The most recent department store to open in Bend before that was JCPenney in 1988, according to a previous article in The Bulletin.

Pooni said the company is comfortable with opening a store in Bend, partially because of Kohl’s recent successes. He said the company tracks where shoppers are from, and those records show demand for a store in Central Oregon.

“We’re pretty picky about where we want to go,” he said. “Customers have been telling us we need something in Bend.”

He and Curry said the store remains similar to other Kohl’s people might visit throughout the nation, while having the most up-to-date features Kohl’s offers. Also, the company maintains a no-hassle return policy — whether a product was purchased in Springfield, or the customer doesn’t have a receipt, it can be returned in Bend, they said.

“A customer making a return is a returning customer,” Curry said.