Abercrombie launched a new concept

This article may be a bit off topic for my regular followers – and for that I apologize, but I wanted to chime in on the news that abercrombie and fitch has decided to close their Ruehl concept stores throughout America.
Abercrombie’s downfall with Ruehl (and the considerable sales drop at other Abercrombie brands of late) came from their arrogance to refuse to acknowledge the state of the economy and price their clothes accordingly – or at the least, provide sales or discounts or specials. For almost a year now Abercrombie’s President and CEO, Mike Jeffries has continually stated that abercrombie and fitch (and affiliated concepts) are premium brands, discounting them or placing sales on their products – even temporarily – will damage the reputation of the brands and make it more difficult for the brands to return to their premium status. Then, suddenly, on May 15th, in their quarterly earnings report Jeffries made a comment which clearly demonstrates just how out of touch those people are in New Albany, Ohio with whats going in the retail environment today:
The first quarter was clearly a difficult one for us. With a challenging economic environment, the consumer continues to show a reluctance to spend on premium brands; a price consciousness dictating shopping habits unlike anything I have ever seen…
When I was younger – I definitely fell for the whole abercrombie and fitch look, the smell of the stores and just the overall “coolness” that seemed to exude from the brand, the clothes and the stores. As I got older, I realized I hated paying as much as I did for the clothes from Abercrombie, they always seemed to shrink, and the styles just seemed to continue to look more and more ridiculous.
About 5 years ago Abercrombie launched a new concept – Ruehl 925 – the premise was the store was based in Greenwich Village NYC, in the mansion of a rich family with the surname “Ruehl”. The clothes were somewhat Abercrombie-like, but had a much more adult feel, were still a little expensive, but overall seemed to be less expensive than abercrombie and fitch. You wouldn’t find a jacket and tie appropriate for a business meeting at Ruehl, but you could easily find leisure or “going out” clothes that were eons away from the Guess/Armani Exchange look.
But the thing that really drew me INTO the Ruehl stores was the store design.
There are only 25 Ruehl stores in the US today, and anyone who has ever visited one will admit – its a VERY unique store. Instead of the storefront being floor to ceiling windows, it looks like a brick mansion that you’d find in Greenwich Village. Right down to the wrought iron fence, concrete walkway, subway/air grates and doors that look like they could come right from an a building in Greenwich Village. The inside is equally as impressive – the store is broken up into rooms, with a long hallway going down the center, dividing the womens and mens sections. The check outs are in the rear of the store – in a room that looks like it could be the garage, with exposed wooden beams and walls. Some rooms were even on different “floors” a good 2 or 3 feet higher than the other floor.
The amount of detail that was designed into these stores was amazing – and the prices of the clothes did reflect that, but it really made you feel part of the story, made you feel part of the clothes – made you part of the experience, something that you will never get at The Gap, or Express.
Other “premium” brands – Express, Banana Republic, J Crew, and Martin & Osa to name a few – have done nothing but sell clothes for their regular price – but discount them down to almost half price, bombard email in boxes with one day sales, online sales, 30% off sales, I could go on and on. Those sales bring people in the doors, and make sales.