Abercrombie Creates a Row on the Row

[AlanC]

Guess who's coming to the Row:
__________________________________________________ _______
Abercrombie has Brits in a snit
Planned store is part of trend that London tailors hate

London’s Savile Row, the center of the universe for the traditional, well-dressed man, might never be the same.

In a reverse British invasion, brash young Americans are preparing to take the fabled lane by storm.

In the middle of the night Wednesday, a massive construction wall with a billboard depicting men’s bare torsos went up around 7 Burlington Gardens, part of the Savile Row district. It marks the spot of the first Abercrombie & Fitch store outside of North America.

The store, which will open in a year and be three times the size of a standard Abercrombie & Fitch mall store, is expected to be a springboard to new markets in Europe and the Far East for the sexy and youthful American brand.

"It will be the same in London as it is in the states," spokesman Thomas D. Lennox said. Store employees will be British, but "they’ll look Abercrombie."...

[Mithras]

Oh the days when A&F was an actually upstanding store. I remember going to Abercrombie & Fitch in downtown Toronto when I was a little boy. It was a place where dad could buy a $900 alpaca & cashmere sweater while getting me fitted for matching over & under .410 caliber shotguns. It was to me, quite simply the best store on earth. I won’t step foot in one of those terrible stores that call themselves Abercrombie & Fitch now.

[cconat2000]

I'm a proud American and a believer in the free market, and even I deplore this. A&F makes juvenile clothing, which they sell with an effeminate and tasteless marketing campaign. Not exactly a proud addition to Savile Row. I hope the Brits just say no, but I have learned with experience that you can never be too pessimistic about these things.

[pt4u67]

I'm surprised there's not a merchants' association or some other interest group to block the installation of A&F there. Perhaps there is, they tried and they lost!

Perhaps now Wal-Mart will establish a botique at Bergdorf?

[PJC in NoVa]

I just don't get this. Why should anyone want to go to Savile Row to find what exists at a bazillion shopping malls? In my view there's a strong case for zoning laws, in a special and historic district, like the Row, favoring small, one-off shops over franchise retail like A&F. It's a shame that the relevant authorities in that part of London don't seem to see it that way.

I can't afford Savile Row bespoke and probably never will be able to (tho' I dream of someday ordering one as a kind of "100 Things I Want to Do Before I Croak" experience), but the Row's role in the larger menswear ecosystem is not to be slighted.

O tempora, o mores.

PJC in NoVa

[NewYorkBuck]

About 3 weeks ago, I walked into a A&F store in a mall. The music was so obnoxious and loud I turned around and left before I got ten feet in the store. How anyone would want to shop in that atmosphere is beyond me.

[odoreater]

quote:Originally posted by PJC in NoVa

I just don't get this. Why should anyone want to go to Savile Row to find what exists at a bazillion shopping malls? In my view there's a strong case for zoning laws, in a special and historic district, like the Row, favoring small, one-off shops over franchise retail like A&F. It's a shame that the relevant authorities in that part of London don't seem to see it that way.

I can't afford Savile Row bespoke and probably never will be able to (tho' I dream of someday ordering one as a kind of "100 Things I Want to Do Before I Croak" experience), but the Row's role in the larger menswear ecosystem is not to be slighted.

O tempora, o mores.

PJC in NoVa

Wouldn't such a zoning law also eliminate some of the shops that are there already? Also, I'm not familiar with British law, but passing a law like that after A&F already applied for a permit to build their store in that area would be very problematic under American law (and American law is very similar to British law in most aspects).

I don't really see what the big deal is. If the property is for sale A&F has just as much a right to buy it and open a store their as anybody else does. It's funny how many people claim to favor free markets and capitalism until it comes to something that affects them personally. Then, everything goes out the window.

I fought the law and the law won.

[pt4u67]

quote:
Wouldn't such a zoning law also eliminate some of the shops that are there already? Also, I'm not familiar with British law, but passing a law like that after A&F already applied for a permit to build their store in that area would be very problematic under American law (and American law is very similar to British law in most aspects).

I don't really see what the big deal is. If the property is for sale A&F has just as much a right to buy it and open a store their as anybody else does. It's funny how many people claim to favor free markets and capitalism until it comes to something that affects them personally. Then, everything goes out the window.

I fought the law and the law won.

Perhaps this is slicing the garlic a little too thin on the topic but It really is the fault of the regulatory authorities and interested parties for not having pre-empted such a move by not having some king of ordinance passed already. There are many such community "covenants" here stateside that protect neighborhoods and retailers from such things. Of course one way of making sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again is to just not go there. Lets let the market decide in the end.

[Morris]

Kenneth Cole has a mate in the deepest recesses of Hell ... Abercrombie & Fitch.

-- Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.

[PJC in NoVa]

quote:Originally posted by odoreater

quote:Originally posted by PJC in NoVa

I just don't get this. Why should anyone want to go to Savile Row to find what exists at a bazillion shopping malls? In my view there's a strong case for zoning laws, in a special and historic district, like the Row, favoring small, one-off shops over franchise retail like A&F. It's a shame that the relevant authorities in that part of London don't seem to see it that way.

I can't afford Savile Row bespoke and probably never will be able to (tho' I dream of someday ordering one as a kind of "100 Things I Want to Do Before I Croak" experience), but the Row's role in the larger menswear ecosystem is not to be slighted.

O tempora, o mores.

PJC in NoVa

Wouldn't such a zoning law also eliminate some of the shops that are there already? Also, I'm not familiar with British law, but passing a law like that after A&F already applied for a permit to build their store in that area would be very problematic under American law (and American law is very similar to British law in most aspects).

I don't really see what the big deal is. If the property is for sale A&F has just as much a right to buy it and open a store their as anybody else does. It's funny how many people claim to favor free markets and capitalism until it comes to something that affects them personally. Then, everything goes out the window.

I fought the law and the law won.

On the larger issue raised, I consider zoning laws to be consistent in principle with markets and capitalism.

As I understand the problem on the Row, it is that past changes in policy have tended to favor larger-scale retail, making rents for, say, mixed light-manufacturing and retail premises (such as tailor shops with workrooms) prohibitive. (I doubt that A&F is actually buying No. 7 BG as opposed to renting its ground floor for retail purposes.) Maybe a Londoner more familiar with the particulars can enlighten us here.

I wasn't calling for the passage of an ex post facto law, but just wondering whether zoning changes might help on a go-forward basis. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Savile Row is a unique asset to London, and letting it be turned into just another lineup of chain-retail stores would destroy that asset. The irony is that A&F most probably wants a shop in Burlington Gardens in no small part because of the uniqueness of the SR district, but A&F's very presence by definition tends to wreck that uniqueness. I have nothing against chain retail, but it's already pretty widespread and there is only one Savile Row.

PJC in NoVa

[Literide]

They will fail there as Jill Sander did and then move to Oxford street where they belong.
That location no longer lends it self to SR multi-tenancy only big floor space retailers. If I recall correctly it is also just one story, a "taxpayer" we call them in NY.

Once vacant again, the owner should build as many floors as he can as office, keeping the ground floor and Lower Levels for small SR type operations. Perhaps the authorities will allow extra office floors to be built if the ground is reserved for only traditional businesses. A zoning bonus as we call it.

[PJC in NoVa]

I was also thinking an A&F store might fit in better on Regent Street.

Here's a map of the neighborhood, FWIW:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.sr...0250&st=4&ar=N

Is No. 7 near the east end of Burlington Gardens? I recall Ede &
Ravenscroft having a shop near that end, in an old house I think.

PJC in NoVa

[Literide]

E&R is on Burlington Gardens looking up Savile Row. More or less across the street fron A&F, which also has considerable side exposure to SR. Thats the frontage that should be used for small shops in the office scheme I envision.

[JLibourel]

quote:Originally posted by Mithras

Oh the days when A&F was an actually upstanding store. I remember going to Abercrombie & Fitch in downtown Toronto when I was a little boy. It was a place where dad could buy a $900 alpaca & cashmere sweater while getting me fitted for matching over & under .410 caliber shotguns. It was to me, quite simply the best store on earth. I won’t step foot in one of those terrible stores that call themselves Abercrombie & Fitch now.

A matched pair of bespoke O/U .410s for a kid? I wish I'd had your father! But then I forget, O Great Mithras, that thou art no mere mortal like me. If I undergo the purifying rite of the taurobolium and live according to thy precepts, wouldst thou on my death take me across the seven spheres of heaven to dwell forever in eternal light?

"Mithras, also a soldier, help us to die aright!"

For the rest, as to A&F moving onto The Row, all I can say is, "O tempora! O mores!"

Wonder if they will post some of their male models outside naked from the groin up as I have witnessned at South Coast Plaza?

[Mithras]

quote:Originally posted by JLibourel

quote:Originally posted by Mithras

Oh the days when A&F was an actually upstanding store. I remember going to Abercrombie & Fitch in downtown Toronto when I was a little boy. It was a place where dad could buy a $900 alpaca & cashmere sweater while getting me fitted for matching over & under .410 caliber shotguns. It was to me, quite simply the best store on earth. I won’t step foot in one of those terrible stores that call themselves Abercrombie & Fitch now.

A matched pair of bespoke O/U .410s for a kid? I wish I'd had your father! But then I forget, O Great Mithras, that thou art no mere mortal like me. If I undergo the purifying rite of the taurobolium and live according to thy precepts, wouldst thou on my death take me across the seven spheres of heaven to dwell forever in eternal light?

"Mithras, also a soldier, help us to die aright!"

For the rest, as to A&F moving onto The Row, all I can say is, "O tempora! O mores!"

Wonder if they will post some of their male models outside naked from the groin up as I have witnessned at South Coast Plaza?

Ah, my new initiate, you can become my newest Corax! Lounge and eat in my cave with your brothers as you gaze at the astrological wonder that is the tauroctony.

Yes I was a lucky little chap. My father grew up in a time when his grandfather had a shooting gallery in his basement and thought that all young boys should be able to shoot and ride at a young age. My dad felt pretty much the same way but added that I should be able to race cars too. Pretty lucky I guess. I haven't ridden a horse, or shot a shotgun, in a couple of years, but I'm still a pretty good racecar driver (and I can hold my own on a range).

Undoubtably the Burlington Gardens A&F will be as tasteless as all the others. Unfortunatly it will probbaly be just as busy as them too...

[WA]

Literide- the owner should build as many floors as he can as office, keeping the ground floor and Lower Levels for small SR type operations. Perhaps the authorities will allow extra office floors to be built if the ground is reserved for only traditional businesses. A zoning bonus as we call it.

Great Idea Literide. If I were a lawyer, what a great place to be - right above a tailors shop.

[Charley]

quote:Originally posted by Morris

Kenneth Cole has a mate in the deepest recesses of Hell ... Abercrombie & Fitch.

-- Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.

That is an absolutely perfect description.

First A&F steals a venerable name.
Now they are trying to ad to their image by stealing from real tailors.
Almost the same as getting a celebrity endorsement.
Or a Royal Warrant.

[hockeyinsider]

It will be interesting to see how the Abercrombie & Fitch store does in London. There’s no doubt that there certainly is a market for their clothes, as many Brits and Europeans in general have been buying A&F clothing for several years when they vacation in the States or just online through the website and eBay.

What’s even more interesting will be if the product line changes. I have a feeling that not all of the A&F style will go over with Europeans, and it’s probably a given that they will need to change some of their slogans on tee-shirts and perhaps the jeans (that whole ripped/destroyed look doesn’t seem too popular outside the States). I also how they’re going to fill a store three times the size of their average American location … perhaps that means adding more upscale products. Who knows.

[Thracozaag]

quote:Originally posted by NewYorkBuck

About 3 weeks ago, I walked into a A&F store in a mall. The music was so obnoxious and loud I turned around and left before I got ten feet in the store. How anyone would want to shop in that atmosphere is beyond me.

I sold my A&F gift card to someone; I simply couldn't stomach the store long enough to even look for a pair of socks (which I doubt they even had).

koji

http://www.whitekeys.com/index.php?o...id=2&Itemid=43

[cumberlandpeal]

Long ago on that stretch of Madison Ave. the Abercrombie store was a respite from the bustle of the avenue. One could ascend to the fishing shop, select a rod and take it to the roof's casting pool to try it out. While down below there was a sea of hats, up there on the roof there was only the sighing of the cane rod and the whistle of the line and the pure joy at goofing off in one of the great sporting stores of all times.

RIP Abercrombie

[udeshi]

Not too worry. The A&F store, formerly Jil Sander, and before that a Nat West, and before that a bank of some stature, is I think a listed building, which means there is only so much they can do to the exterior. Secondly being on one floor, with beautiful high ceilings, there is a limit to how much they can sell per square foot, and as it is run by a bunch of number crunchers, and I don't mean the Italian ones who were out for a three year lunch when they let the white elephant Jil Sander store run loose, they will look at cost containment, and so will throw in the towel pretty quickly. And the whipped cream is that an A&F customer would not happen to pass by the row generally, so the location for the clientele it is seeking is not great, and now for the cherry, convert USD prices in to Sterling at 1 to 1 as Brooks Brothers has done, and the 80 odd percent price difference makes shopping online and ordering it from the states more appealing.

So please, A&F spend an obscene amount renovating, and close it down in two years when the rest of the row's refurbishment should be nearing completion, and we can then put the companies that have the most to gain by being on the row, the people who made it famous, the reason why we are reading this thread.

[Intrepid]

quote:Originally posted by cumberlandpeal

Long ago on that stretch of Madison Ave. the Abercrombie store was a respite from the bustle of the avenue. One could ascend to the fishing shop, select a rod and take it to the roof's casting pool to try it out. While down below there was a sea of hats, up there on the roof there was only the sighing of the cane rod and the whistle of the line and the pure joy at goofing off in one of the great sporting stores of all times.

RIP Abercrombie

Welcome cumberlandpeal ! Delighted to have you with us.

Nostalgic first post. What a superb place in the era that you mentioned.

Apparently the same in Canada, based on an earlier post.

Carpe Diem

[RSS]

I would suggest that we all write A&F and let them know how disappointing and inappropriate this move is. What is the point of bringing the typical A&F customer (can't really bring myself to call them a client or patron) to this part of London?

Of course, were this A&F in its original incarnation, I'd be less concerned.

[PJC in NoVa]

and now for the cherry, convert USD prices in to Sterling at 1 to 1 as Brooks Brothers has done

You're saying that the Brooks store in London sells BrooksEase suits for 598 QUID?!?!

That's over a thousand dollars!!The Brethren's UK marketing honchos must be insane. I'll be a monkey's uncle if they're moving suits at anywhere near those prices, or even at their normal 25% discount.