Stein Mart: The name almost sounds like a second-rate Kmart imitator.

But the Jacksonville-based retailer seems to have its own niche: It is a hybrid between a discounter and a traditional department store.

It seeks to offer the department store ambiance and customer service but merchandise at discount prices.

Stein Mart’s first Christmas in South Florida appears to be shaping up just fine.

The company opened its first local store last month at the Shadowood Square shopping center at Route 441 and Glades Road west of Boca Raton.

The retailer is successful because people like department store-quality clothing, but they don’t like department store prices, said Gary Dennis, a retail analyst for J.C. Bradford in Nashville, Tenn.

A few years ago, when department stores ran deep discounts in order to raise cash to meet financial crises, “It sent a signal to customers — in years past, they’d been ripping them off,” said Bradford.

Stein Mart has an average markup of 27 percent, while department stores average 40 percent to 50 percent, he said.

But it still tries to offer service, and the company might be best known for its “boutique ladies.”

“They’re our secret weapon. They’re ambassadors for the company,” said Deanie Collier, the company’s vice president of advertising.

The boutique ladies work in the designer gown department, are often drawn from society, and usually wear the designer clothing they sell to their peers. Most work only one day a week because the real material reward is not the $6- to $7-per-hour wage, it’s the generous 25 percent employee discount.

Ann Newmann, who is active in Palm Beach County charities, said that after she was recruited, “By the time we got done, I said, ‘Do I have to pay to work here?”‘

The boutique ladies spoil the customers with coffee and personal service.

“I was told, pretend you’re in your home, and treat them the way you would in your home,” Newmann said. “It works. I was as flabbergasted as anyone.”

Another boutique lady, retired from a long career running a clothing salon in Boca Raton, wouldn’t give her name, saying, “My friends wouldn’t believe it if they saw me here.”

The store, which sells linens, gifts, cosmetics, shoes and costume jewelry as well as clothes, has designer names such as Laura Ashley, Ralph Lauren Polo, and Harve Bernard. A Bill Blass dress listing for $240 sells for $119.97. A $394 Albert Nipon dress sells for $209.97.

An A.J. Bari gown listing for $2,590 sells for $699.97. In the men’s department, Beatles and World Wildlife Fund ties that retail for $25 sell for $12. A Boston Trader polo shirt listing for $40 sells for $21.97.

The Palm Beach County store is built in a renovated Publix and merchandise is checked out at the entrance, like at a Publix or a Kmart.

Because of the store’s small size, about 35,000 square feet vs. 80,000 to 100,000 for many department stores, it may lack some sizes or colors.

The low prices come from the lower profit margins and no-frills purchasing. Stein Mart doesn’t ask manufacturers for money for advertising or promotions, and it pays on a schedule, Collier said.

Dennis said Stein Mart’s rents average $5.50 per square foot. Specialty retailers at malls might pay $20 to $25 per square foot.

The company has been rewarding for investors. The stock increased from $13 when the company went public in April to $28 1/4.

Net income for the nine months ending Sept. 26 rose to $4 million from $1.5 million in the same period of 1991. Sales at stores open more than a year, considered a key sign of growth among retailers, rose 7.6 percent during the period. The company has 52 stores in the Southeast and south central United States.

“It is a concept that has worked very well for us,” Collier said.