Abercrombie & Fitch Closing 180 Stores By 2015

Abercrombie & Fitch, the Ohio-based teen retailer, plans to close 180 of its U.S. stores by 2015, CEO Mike Jeffries told analysts on a conference call Wednesday.

Unlike its flagship in New York City -- where buff men in minimal clothing lure shoppers around the clock -- many of Abercrombie's 1,014 U.S. stores are under-performing, tucked away in the empty hallways of aging malls. Apparently, you can't just stick shirtless models outside of every store.

By closing unprofitable locations, Abercrombie hopes to elevate its brand image as well as its profit margins. The 180 stores announced today are only the latest in a string of closures: last year, Abercrombie closed 71 U.S. stores, including 68 during the busy holiday shopping season. The company did not specify where the new closures will occur.

Meanwhile, Abercrombie is opening new locations abroad. With the U.S. economy still rocky, retailers like Abercrombie and Gap Inc. are fleeing to Europe and Asia in search of shoppers with deeper pockets.

In Europe, Abercrombie has expanded aggressively, opening seven flagships and 62 Hollister stores since 2007. Yet even this initiative is now hitting economic road bumps. Abercrombie's store traffic and sales slowed down over the past year, as Europeans cut back on spending in the face of a worsening debt crisis.

Asia, it seems, is the next frontier. Abercrombie & Fitch opened its first Singaporian store in December and its first Chinese store, a Hollister Co., in Hong Kong in August. A third Chinese location is slated to open in March. "We see growing awareness and familiarity with our brands in China as a major opportunity," said CEO Mike Jeffries on Wednesday’s call.

In Europe, much of Abercrombie's success came from the appeal of its upscale but casual all-American image. Whether this will seduce Asian shoppers -- and whether the company can snatch back the attention of teens at home -- remains to be seen.

Comments

[prettenna]

07:30 PM on 05/11/2013

Ah the consumers have spoken...see what happens Mike when you shoot your mouth off and only cater to a certain group

[justnicagain]

05:38 PM on 05/11/2013

Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with the CEO's nasty and mean spirited ramblings about who deserves to wear his clothing or not. Alienate a group of people and they won't want to throw money at you?! No kidding!

[NikoDae]

04:17 PM on 05/09/2013

Selling in places like Singapore seems like a bit of a slap in the face to the Asian countries since ALL of there clothes is made there. But what what ever, I wish this brand would go away.

[hmann85]

09:17 PM on 03/01/2013

Abercrombie had their moment, now it's over. Maybe 20 years from now it will come back reinvented again. Style has changed, preppy outdoorsy is not the trend now. It will do better in foreign markets, like Asia and parts of Europe. We'll see, but whenever I've walked by an Abercrombie store these days, it's empty with music blaring, of course. They need to reinvent their clothing line now in hope to succeed. We'll see, but if they keep the same path, they will fail. And I know that.

[Moviemaker 2005]

06:24 AM on 01/24/2013

This corporation is one of the worst clothing retailers in the entire United States. This company is so extremely money greedy that they even refuse shoppers who buy more than a couple of pieces from their stores. And if you tempt to buy more than 10 items on a regular basis, they even suspend your credit card for good with a visible warning on their check-out screens. And for the associates at the check-out a Large Warning will appear on their screens not to serve that particular customer and who dares will be fired immediately. Above all, a call will be made to all nearby stores if this customer enters a different store to buy nearby. This company sucks in a lot of ways and hopefully their foreign locations make no profit. Honestly, it is not worth to spend money in a store where all emplyees and many customers get discriminated if they do not fit Mike Jeffries ideas. Let him go to hell! The world surely does not need such dreadful individual.

[Dsasters]

01:38 PM on 01/30/2013

Do you enjoy lying on the internet for attention?

[Moviemaker 2005]

03:37 AM on 01/31/2013

Maybe you look for attention. Better move on and do not pester people!

[surferdude83]

02:08 PM on 11/06/2012

Acording to Forbes profile of A&F CEO Mike Jeffries earned over $48 million in compensation for 2011 , that would take an average store manager salary (36,000) over 1300 years to earn as much. Closing stores huh? Guess they cant afford Mr Jeffries plastic surgery bill.

[prettenna]

07:31 PM on 05/11/2013

He is rather horrific looking...one would think with all the dough he rakes in he could have picked a better plastic surgeon

[surferdude83]

02:04 PM on 11/06/2012

This company has no morals. It will unarguably end the careers of hundreds of its employees by closing all of these stores. With a compensation package of in excess of $48,000,0000 (yes, thats almost 50 million) for 2011, it would take the average store manager over 1300 years to earn the same. Guess it shows the priorities of a company that has had this naked boy enfatuated ceo making decisions for the last 20 years.

[elliot2698]

10:06 AM on 08/08/2012

Dawsons creek was a good tv show till recently in 2012 they re edited the show taking out all the music sound track and replacing it. and Brand names they used in the show edited out. People where angry and you see that's the same thing with ANF......... Look at star wars they Altered the Original film with special affects and people did not like that. thats the same thing with ANF....Board members at ANF went from 76 t0 29 once again........ They brought back the Cologne Woods I I was really happy..... little more watered down but it should never be altered if they did.Mike Jeffries is making terrible mistakes.

[elliot2698]

10:00 AM on 08/08/2012

Abercrombie did well 5 years ago. So I say to them bring it back. If its what did well. But don't discriminate against women or the Head scarfs and employs. Abercrombie is good company they just sold to much if there cheap stuff....... look back to 2004 they had some really cool stuff. And the Quarterly magazines should be brought back permanent. If there going to put nude. put warning label 18 plus or don't put nude in it at all. and bring them back. Models in anf.If not replace CEO.I miss the ANF from 2005 and 2007

[elliot2698]

09:56 AM on 08/08/2012

I love Abercrombie brand a lot. but this year there clothing line seemed cheap. lagging. cutting back. They had some cool fleeces 5 years ago. I dare to see them bring it back,

[elliot2698]

09:54 AM on 08/08/2012

there style seems cheap for 3 years now

[econopolo]

05:19 PM on 06/24/2012

Well done, they deserve it. I used to buy a lot Abercrombie until the day they banned me from their online store. Since then I stopped buying their brands due to the lack of respect with customers. I'm loving to see they losing a lot of money at their stocks and hope all their stores close as soon as possible.

[sonamurg123]

06:58 PM on 03/21/2012

It's evolution that eventually everything will need to change, and Abercrombie & Fitch is no exception if they want to stay in the race. At the end, it's how much profit they make, they can't be so discriminatory as to only hire certain types of models and employees, completely disregarding their potential main source of buyers, which are composed of all races. Next time, use some common sense and hire different ethnic groups so they will be comfortable buying your products, because you represent every ethnic group.

[normansan1]

04:42 PM on 03/07/2012

While those Models are Hot Stuff ... their clothes and prices are not so much plus everyone trying to save the buck... Not surprise there !

[Matt Blanc]

11:06 AM on 02/24/2012

Abercrombie was once a high-end safari outfitter. You could buy fancy hunting guns, canoes, safari clothes (real stuff), fly fishing gear - everything for a trip to the back of beyond. Now the clothing is trash, good only for a few weeks. And if you're not 15-19, don't even bother trying to get the attention of any of the clueless clerks or attempt to find anything in the stores. Everything in the stores I've seen was heaped in dark piles on poorly lit tables. Abercrombie needs to decide if it wants to open nightclubs with 'Chippendale' dancers or try to reclaim its once classy reputation, and offer hard-to-find hard-wearing clothes for real outdoors people. Tilly and Barbour are about all I can think of in that market.