Feb. 12--How do you tell customers that you've changed from a pricey brand to a more affordable one?

In this economy, you have a big sale and prove it.

Tween Brands' Justice stores will kick off a five-day promotion today highlighting their takeover of the Limited Too chain by discounting the entire inventory of girls' apparel and accessories by 40 percent -- that's off prices that already were up to a third lower than Limited Too's had been.

The event is taking place at all Justice stores -- the 338 mostly strip-center stores that already bore the name of the less-pricey brand and the 560 former Limited Too stores, which mostly were in malls. The latter are still in the process of changing their signs to Justice. The conversion is not quite half done, with completion expected by the end of March.

While the discount might help get Mom in the door, Justice will encourage its 7- to 14-year-old customers to linger and shop more with demonstrations of its new Justice perfume, the chance to buy a heart-shape necklace for $2.50 with any purchase, and an opportunity to win a trip to a future photo shoot for one of the retailer's catalogs.

"This is by far the biggest promotion we've ever done with Justice," said Mike Rayden, chief executive of Tween Brands. "We've sent out 3 million invitations to customers in our database, and we think it's an opportunity to get new customers as well as shopping-center foot traffic increases over the (President's Day) holiday weekend."

Rayden stunned the retail world in August by announcing that Tween Brands would drop its Limited Too stores in favor of its newer, lower-price Justice brand.

Even though analysts had been pushing for better sales numbers from Limited Too, which had suffered as the economy tanked, the immediate reaction was skeptical. The day after the announcement, Tween's stock closed at $8.01, the lowest it had ever been. Shares have fallen substantially since, to about $3. Virtually all retail stocks have nose-dived during this period.

At the time of the announcement, analyst Kimberly Greenberger of Citigroup downgraded Tween shares from "hold" to "sell," calling the closing of Limited Too an "overreaction" to poor second-quarter earnings. Adrienne Tennant of FBR Capital Markets also downgraded the stock, saying the rebranding "may cause problems, not solutions."

Six months later, consumers' further clampdown on spending might have vindicated Rayden's move. Still, he faces an uphill battle in growing and nurturing Justice in a very tough environment.

"People are not shopping generally, let's be honest," he said.