We went shopping at Hollister and saw how it could be Abercrombie's secret weapon

Jessica Tyler

Sep 14, 2018, 02:07 IST

We went shopping at Hollister and saw how it could be Abercrombie's secret weapon

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
Hollister was dimly lit, and most products still had a Hollister logo on them.

Abercrombie & Fitch has made some major changes in the past few years while its sister store, Hollister, has performed consistently well.
In the second quarter, comparable sales were up 2% at Abercrombie's namesake store and 4% at Hollister, according to a company press release. It was the seventh consecutive quarter of growth for the Hollister brand.
Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Fran Horowitz said in an August earnings call that Hollister has been successful because of its product assortment and marketing strategy.
We paid a visit to a Hollister store in New York City and saw that it hasn't changed much over the years while its sister brand, Abercrombie, has worked to reinvent itself.

While Abercrombie & Fitch has had to make some major changes to its brand over the past few years, its sister brand Hollister has been doing relatively well.

Hollister is generally priced lower than Abercrombie and tends to support it similarly to how Old Navy supports Gap. It's meant to appeal to a younger crowd of shoppers and has a California-inspired theme. In the second quarter, comparable sales were up 2% at Abercrombie and 4% at Hollister, according to a company press release. It was the seventh consecutive quarter of growth for the Hollister brand.

In its August earnings call, the company discussed plans to open 22 new stores in 2018, 13 of which would be Hollister stores. Last year, it remodeled 35 Hollister stores. But according to Retail Dive, the company as a whole has closed 400 stores since 2010, and it may close as many as 60 this year.

Though Hollister hasn't vowed to make the same drastic changes its sister brand Abercrombie has, it has been quietly working on improving its stores and marketing strategy, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Fran Horowitz said in the earnings call. Most recently, Hollister launched a campaign featuring Khalid and Noah Cyrus.

On a recent trip to a Hollister store in New York City, we noticed that many products bore a huge logo - a design feature that Abercrombie has been criticized for in the past.

Here's what else we found when we visited Hollister:

We went to the Hollister store in Soho. Outside was a clearance sale sign advertising $29 hoodies and $20 jeans.

Also in the entryway was a sign advertising Hollister's "click & collect" program, which allows customers to shop online and pick up in store.

I noticed right away how many deals and promotions there were. Most things were on sale in some capacity. A sign advertised that if you spend $75 or more, you could get a free Hollister blanket.

Even though Abercrombie stores have evolved to be brighter and quieter, Hollister was still pretty dark on the inside, and the distinct smell of cologne still lingered. It didn't seem to have changed a ton in the past few years.

The employees at the store, though very helpful, were overwhelming. In each section of the store I walked towards, I was repeatedly asked if I needed help.

The store is generally less expensive than its sister store Abercrombie. Everything cost $10-20 less than at Abercrombie, even though the products seemed to be very similar.

There were $20 fleece sweatpants ...

... $20 sweaters ...

... and denim that was buy one, get one 50% off. There were a ton of different denim options organized by style and size.

There was also a collection from a campaign with Noah Cyrus. The styles were very simple, and everything was pretty high-quality for the price.

There were still some summer clothes on display, but they were in the back of the store.

The store was divided up into smaller rooms. It seemed like there was another one around every corner. Some of the rooms had hoodies, some sold accessories, some held T-shirts — there was no obvious method to how it was organized. But, within each room, everything was well-organized by size.

The lower level of the store didn't seem to be selling anything drastically different from the upper level. It definitely got repetitive walking through the store.

Logos were very common. About half of the products in the store had "Hollister" written in big letters across it, or they had a big logo on the front. Having too many logos was a common complaint from Abercrombie shoppers in the past.

Logos were very common. About half of the products in the store had "Hollister" written in big letters across it, or they had a big logo on the front. Having too many logos was a common complaint from Abercrombie shoppers in the past.