Abercrombie?s Ruehl No. 925 makes customers feel at home
What happens to Abercrombie & Fitch shoppers after they grow up and graduate from college? They become Ruehl No. 925 shoppers. At least that?s what New Albany, Ohio-based apparel chain Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is hoping as it preps its newest concept ? a sophisticated take on casual attire for 20-somethings ? for possible nationwide rollout.
Landlords are eager to welcome the latest concept from the respected retailer. ?It?s really exciting they added this customer that?s older than their other businesses, in an area that?s really not addressed by others,? said David T. Weinert, senior vice president of leasing at Taubman Centers, which had three Ruehl stores open in its malls this year.
The first Ruehl opened at Westfield Shoppingtown Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., in November, and the concept?s marked departure from its racier younger sibling is readily apparent in the prototype. No bright lights, sexy graphics or loud music here.
The 9,500-square-foot store?s exterior resembles a Greenwich Village town house. Why? Well, Abercrombie & Fitch Chairman and CEO Michael S. Jeffries created a background story for the new concept worthy of a Victorian novel. In fact, it is the embellished tale of a real immigrant German family, the Ruehls, who settled in New York City in the late 19th century and founded a leather goods business at their No. 925 Greenwich Street town house in Manhattan.
Jeffries is big on creating brands that project lifestyles to which customers can aspire, says Thomas Lennox, Abercrombie?s director of corporate communications. ?It has to be very detailed, elaborate, because the business and positioning of the brand has to be very exact.?
The Garden State store?s design definitely sticks to the story. Its exterior resembles a row of three brick town houses with iron grates. The interior, stocked with apparel, accessories, fragrance and even books and magazines, is also in the style of a home. Shoppers enter rooms on each side of an entrance hall leading to a ?porch? in the rear containing the central checkout and the fitting rooms. The store has about 10 rooms in all.
First-timers are taken aback by the number of rooms and the store?s resemblance to a home, a layout quite unlike that of any other mall merchant, says Kevin Ramstack, division manager of the Paramus store. ?At first, they?re shocked,? he said.
Certainly, most shoppers wouldn?t know they?re at an Abercrombie division; no signage links the store with its parent, and the atmosphere is decidedly different. Ruehl?s music is not as loud as in the chain?s other stores, and the lighting is intimate ? some even say dark.
The store stresses good service, too. The company has recruited sales staff from polished chains such as Louis Vuitton, and shoppers are greeted as they approach the store ? not exactly standard practice at a straight-ahead Abercrombie & Fitch.
Ruehl merchandise raises the Abercrombie & Fitch sporty vibe to a new level of sophistication. To be sure, the clothing is still casual ? ?We?re not interested in what they wear from 9 to 5,? said Lennox ? though of a higher quality than that stocked at regular Abercrombie & Fitch stores. The sweaters are cashmere, the jeans are of heavier, better-made denim, and the purses are embossed leather.
?Ruehl, to me, is an edgier version of J. Crew,? said John C. Schroder, COO of Westfield?s U.S. operations. Where J. Crew?s fashions trend toward the classic ? cable-knit sweaters, twin sets ? Ruehl?s clothes have more sparkle, some sporting sequins.
To some degree, J. Crew, Banana Republic and Ralph Lauren do serve more-affluent 20-somethings, but their reach is broader. Ruehl is the first to focus on this new core customer: a person in the early stages of a career who can afford better quality but still wants youthful looks, Lennox says.
And apparel isn?t all Ruehl has to offer. For sale on the back porch are books and newspapers, as well as fragrance and, on occasion, fresh flowers. The idea, Ramstack says, is to continually surprise the customers, sparking a curiosity that will entice them to return.
Retailers will have to start reaching out to this market and taking risks if they expect to keep growing, says Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard?s Retail Consulting Group, a Nutley, N.J.-based consultancy. ?The risk-taking behind Ruehl is not only a smart idea, it totally falls in line with the massive transformation of retail,? Barnard said. ?Newness is needed. What worked over five years ago is falling flat on its face.? Abercrombie may have hit upon a way to hold onto existing customers as they exit their teens, he adds.
Golden Ruehl
Ruehl stores opened in September at Taubman?s Woodfield Mall, outside Chicago; and International Plaza, in Tampa, Fla.; and in December at Twelve Oaks, in Novi, Mich. These expansion plans mirror those of sister chain Hollister, which opened a handful of test stores before expanding to its current 200 or so units. Hollister features a California/beach design and line, and appeals to teens who prefer the surfer look to the overtly trendy.
The concept?s initial phases were cloaked in secrecy, which Abercrombie maintained even as it approached landlords for space. But the retailer?s reputation gave Westfield the confidence to sign up Ruehl sight-unseen, says Schroder. Eighteen months before opening, Seth Johnson, then COO of Abercrombie & Fitch, told Schroder about this fourth brand (besides Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister, there was children?s apparel chain Abercrombie), which the company was developing as it had Hollister ? tested in a handful of locations, then unrolled at a rate of eight to 12 a year.
?They asked, ?Will you help us prepare the space? But we can?t tell you what it is,?? Schroder recalls. ?The only thing we knew was that it was unisex and an attempt to capture the market served by Ralph Lauren and J. Crew. We didn?t know the concept, but because of Abercrombie & Fitch?s track record, we did the deal.?
Westfield reserved part of a 30,000-square-foot box formerly occupied by Eddie Bauer and waited. It wasn?t until 90 days before the store?s opening that Westfield got any idea of the concept, Schroder says. But expanding the chain means finding very large boxes; that is not easy for the store or the landlords.
?It becomes more challenging,? Taubman?s Weinert acknowledges. ?You don?t want to assemble those spaces. You want to look for them. But you?re going to figure it out.?
Though Ruehl?s testing and rollout strategy might be similar to Hollister?s, the concept may go through more changes than its sister chain, says Dana E. Cohen, a managing director at New York City-based Banc of America Securities.
?I think there is a spark of something at Ruehl,? Cohen said. ?There?s something interesting there. But as opposed to Hollister, it will probably need more tweaks.?
While applauding Abercrombie & Fitch?s effort to chase new markets, Cohen notes that Ruehl?s compartmentalized layout makes getting from one merchandise section to another more difficult. The dim lighting is a problem too, she says.
The lighting had been increased somewhat since the store?s opening, according to Ramstack. But the pinpoint lighting was intended to evoke the atmosphere of a home, he says, and bumping up the foot-candles too much would defeat that goal.
In Randazzo?s view, the pricing is a bit high, even for young professionals. Cashmere sweaters were going for more than $160, and some purses were priced at more than $900. ?You need a paycheck to buy these clothes,? she observed.
And the distinctly New York feel of the shop may not translate into every market, some say.
?They?ll definitely work in Northern California, in San Francisco,? Schroder said. ?Will it work in Palm Desert? Probably not.?
That said, Cohen and Barnard are cheering Abercrombie & Fitch?s innovation.
?It doesn?t look like anything else in the mall,? said Cohen. ?A lot of execution changes [are needed], but there?s still something to it.? Besides, ?not every concept comes out of the box perfect.? Cohen notes that Ann Taylor Loft began as an outlet store before evolving into its current mode of more-casual clothing for inside and outside the office.
Abercrombie & Fitch plans to roll out units at Easton Town Center, Columbus, Ohio, and in metro Washington, D.C., and Denver during the first half of the year and perhaps five to eight more by year-end. Regional malls will be the main locations, but lifestyle centers and street front sites are likely too.
?This concept will not play to the same size as Hollister,? Lennox said. ?But it will have at least 100 [units].?
If the excitement of customers matches that of employees, the chain could get off to a good start.
?I can?t tell you how excited our associates in Columbus are for our Easton store to open,? Lennox said. He adds that some of them took a weekend trip to Chicago to shop at the Woodfield Mall store. ?When does that happen??
I have issues with fads. Probably why i'm a psych major 
