Saturday, February 18, 2012

Abercrombie & Fitch to Close 180 Stores


Every once in awhile I get a brain cramp. For instance, when I initially saw this story about clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch closing 180 stores, I was thinking I had already done a previous post on the company. Then, thanks to a little reminder note from regular reader ReddDogg, dang if didn't go back to double check only to find that my middle age Alzheimer's has been sneaking up on me.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the scoop from The Columbus Dispatch:
Abercrombie & Fitch plans to close 180 stores in the United States over the next three years as part of a strategy to focus on higher-tier markets, both domestically and overseas, said Jonathan Ramsden, chief financial officer at Abercrombie.

When finished, Abercrombie will have closed more than 300 stores, which includes the 135 stores that were closed the past two years.

While the company has not announced specific stores that will be shuttered, Ramsden said they have tended to close more abercrombie kids and Abercrombie & Fitch stores than Hollister stores. The closings will be based on store performance.

In past calls with analysts, Abercrombie officials have indicated that such closings benefit the company by reinforcing its exclusive image.
Thus Abercrombie joins a growing list of retailers, including Sears, JC Penney, The Gap, Espirit and Pacific Sunwear which have announced major store closings recently.

So was their some Corporate FlackSpeak to go with this article? You bet your sullen little mallrat's hoodie pullover there was:
“By closing more of these lower-tier, underperforming stores, we'll be able to lift up the entire brand, particularly A&F,” Ramsden said.

Almost all of the closings will be in the United States. The chain plans to continue to open “ highly profitable stores in Europe
beyond that, in Asia and other new markets,” said CEO Mike Jeffries.
Yep--nothing 'lifts up an entire brand" quite like a bunch of empty storefronts. And I know I didn't go to business school and I'm just a loser with a Poly Sci degree rather than a fancy MBA, but even I know that opening new stores on a continent currently spiraling into a deep recession is a really bad fucking idea.


Bonus: "Your little hoodrat friend has been calling me again"

7 comments:

  1. Abercrombie & Fitch was a favorite of whom I call the "gods of America's second gilded age." the suburban elite who know no limits, whose life creed is "everything, all the time."

    To me, these store closings are great news.

    Not that I'm expecting those "gods" to awaken from their stupor and start functioning in harmony with the natural limits of the planet.

    It's simply the satisfaction of seeing their mindless lifestyle being eroded one failed retail chain at a time.

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  2. Never shopped there. Not my kind of store. They did indeed target a wealthier and younger crowd with much more disposable income. I will not miss them at all. I suspect the target group they went after will not miss them either.

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    1. Now that the Borders bookstore at the indoor mall nearest me has closed I have exactly ZERO remaining reasons to ever go shop there. You could give me a $100 gift certificate to buy anything in the place, and I'd probably walk out with $60 unspent. I just don't understand why people waste so much of their money on useless crap.

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  3. Abercrombie and Fitch clothes are so cool. Love them so much.

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  4. En utilisant Abercrombie Paris, vous pourriez produire une déclaration de style et de pouvoir jouir de devenir l'envie des hommes et des femmes.

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  5. Always be a fan of Abercormbie and Fitch. Big love to them.

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  6. Abercrombie Paris vêtements sont fabriqués dans de première qualité, et de l'argent même valeur.

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