Smaller stores work better, Abercrombie & Fitch says

The retailer says it will redo 85 stores this year, including some of its Hollister shops, having shrunk 70 last year, according to CNBC. Abercrombie & Fitch also plans to brighten up its stores, abandoning a strategy of keeping them dark. This will involve either shrinking a store, closing one to open another nearby, or opening one in a new market, the retailer says.

“What we’ve learned from the consumer is [that] they are really enjoying the smaller spaces,” CEO Fran Horowitz told CNBC. “There is a more intimate feel to it. ... And the customer likes that one-on-one interaction.”

The retailer will shut three flagships: a Hollister in New York City, and two Abercrombies — one in Milan and one in Tokyo. The company is also testing new markets through pop-up stores, as it did recently at Roosevelt Field Mall, in Garden City, N.Y., says CNBC.

Abercrombie & Fitch will thus end the year with more stores in operation than it had in 2018, though at less square footage. Other changes include introducing click-and-collect options at its stores, enabling customers to order merchandise online for pickup at the store.

“[Mall owners] appreciate we are making these investments,” Horowitz told CNBC. “They are important to us. We are important to them.”