Hollister's website, including the '1922' device

I can’t claim to know much about Abercrombie & Fitch’s sister brand, Hollister, and if I did, I suspect it’s somewhere that might be outside of both my price and age brackets. To be fair though, Hollister’s presence in the UK is pretty new – the first store, at Brent Cross, opened only last year – with Meadowhall and the Trafford Centre currently its most northerly outposts.

Despite my limited knowledge of the retailer, I was still quite interested to read the BBC’s article today about what it describes as Hollister’s ‘fictitious’ branding. Essentially, the BBC has ‘uncovered’ that there is no historical foundation for the use of the ’1922′ device on Hollister’s logos and labels, and that the whole ‘story’ behind the business – actually founded in 2000 – is made up.

In reality, the BBC’s article is not quite the scoop that it first appears, given that the Wikipedia article about Hollister has openly referred to the business’s “fictional background story” – downloadable in full from the A&F website – since at least January this year. Given that it’s no secret, it would surely have been better for Hollister’s press people to point this out to the BBC themselves, moulding the story into some positive PR for the brand, rather than giving a silly response – “Due to our policies regarding press, we choose not to provide any comment on your questions” – that simply appears to add substance to the BBC’s implied criticism.

Nevertheless, the debate about whether all this matters is still an interesting one. The question, essentially, is this – does anybody really care about the authenticity of Hollister’s history as long as they like the clothes and can relate to the brand’s “harmony of romance, beauty, adventure and today”?

It’s certainly true that retailers have long created brands that evoke the American dream – after all, with their respective ‘Cedarwood State’, ‘Atlantic Bay’ and ‘Blue Harbour’ sub-brands, even Primark, Bhs and M&S are at it.

I do wonder, however, if founding an entire retailer’s brand on a made-up story is maybe an evocation too far.

Your comments, as always, are welcomed…

Millets store

Today’s retail news has arguably been dominated by Marks and Spencer revealing better than expected results, and Blacks Leisure (owner of Millets, as well as its eponymous chain) announcing plans to shut 89 stores that “have not traded profitably for many years” (in which case, you may wonder why the company has persevered with those branches as long as it has – Woolworths’ demise surely demonstrates the potential for ropey stores to bring the profitable ones crashing down with them).

While established names link M&S and Blacks display mixed fortunes in their quest for future success, one of today’s other (less prominent but no less interesting) retail stories relates to a brand new presence on the high street – GIVe, the latest venture from fashion guru George Davies of Next, George at Asda and Per Una fame.

Following months of anticipation, GIVe’s Regent Street flagship has opened today, with 21 other shops – five standalone stores and 16 department store concessions – following tomorrow. Alongside London, the standalone GIVe stores are in all the top shopping centre locations that you would expect – Bluewater, Cribbs Causeway, Kingston-upon-Thames, Liverpool One, Meadowhall – with Glasgow and Harrogate following soon.

Unusually, the concessions are all located within independent department stores, including all 11 Beales sites – a refreshing change from the usual House of Frasers and Debenhams. This decision, reportedly, is linked to Davies’ wish to offer a free minor alterations service within all his GIVe shops, as well as his desire for a less corporate, more boutiquey feel – hence the sense in tying up with department stores that already provide this type of personal, customer-focused service.

Several observations can be made about the store portfolio. Most obvious, from a North East viewpoint, is the absence as yet of any GIVe stores in our region. Perhaps we shouldn’t worry – after all, there’s no GIVe store to date in Manchester, Leeds or Edinburgh either. However, compared to other major regional shopping centres, such as Bluewater and Cribbs Causeway, I do wonder sometimes about MetroCentre’s ability to attract and retain the top names – take for example the oft-cited departure of Gap and its replacement with Peacocks.

Don’t get me wrong - Peacocks is a great shop – but it’s ubiquity means that it’s not really a special shop. For me, a special shop can still be part of a retail chain, but it needs to be one that has few enough stores to make each one a real destination – shops like the John Lewis’s, Fenwicks, Selfridges, Apple Stores and Lego Stores of this world. Other than the Berghaus flagship, it’s difficult to think of stores in MetroCentre that would fit this definition. Is it a function of the existing retail mix? The fact that the 22-year-old MetroCentre, with the exception of the Red Mall extension, looks rather cheap and dated compared to its newer competitors? Or something else? 

Certainly, Apple Store’s important decision to open up in Newcastle’s Eldon Square extension (blogged about here), alongside a growing roster of big-name fashion retailers, may help give Eldon Square the edge as the most likely location for GIVe’s North East debut. Alternatively, Rutherfords in Morpeth (mentioned here) or Robbs in Hexham would be obvious candidates, were GIVe to go down the concessions route.

Another observation about GIVe’s store portfolio is quite what a coup – and potential boost – this is for Beales, whose recent performance has been patchy to say the least. Assuming that GIVe is a success, Beales is sure to reap some benefit in terms of both footfall and trade. If nothing else, it will help to make its sometimes tired-looking stores more of a retail destination again.

GIVe homepage

 Inevitably, a blog post like this would not be complete without me passing comment on GIVe’s online presence. I’m hardly qualified to comment on the women’s fashions themselves, but the good quality photographs are really effective, and I like how the clothes can be browsed by colour as well as garment type. The ‘style with’ tips – suggesting belts or bags to go with your top – also seem like a canny move. If nothing else, Davies’ ability to launch a high street retail chain and fully operational online store on the same day is pretty impressive. Recognising the synergies between bricks and clicks, the site – unlike others I could mention - also gets brownie points for featuring a list of GIVe store locations, complete with opening times, contact details, and the name of the store manager.

Any obvious website downsides? None especially, other than the predominant black and white look making the GIVe site resemble any number of other fashion retailers’ – House of Fraser or the aforementioned Tucci, to name just two. As always, if you’ve surfed the GIVe website – or indeed visited one of the high street stores – feel free to share your own reactions to the GIVe experience.

Here’s a screenshot:

Screenshot of ES South lettings map, September 2009

At present, the only Apple Stores in the north of England are in Manchester (Trafford Centre and Arndale Centre) and at Sheffield’s Meadowhall. If it all goes through, Apple Store coming to Newcastle would therefore be a real coup for Eldon Square’s majority owners, Capital Shopping Centres (CSC).

Indeed, Apple Store and Superdry are particularly welcome additions to Eldon Square in that they are retailers new to Newcastle (though Superdry, admittedly, already has a store at Gateshead’s MetroCentre). As I noted before, with the exception of Debenhams, ES South’s early major lettings – New Look, River Island, the Arcadia brands – were all relocations from existing pitches in Eldon Square. Back in June, this lack of new names led the retail industry journal Retail Week to devote an in-depth – if perhaps overly negative – article to what they described as CSC’s “hollow victory”.

However, this latest news on lettings begins to suggest a better balance between old and new names, as well as indicating that there are only six of the 25 new units left to fill. This raises the prospect that ES South could, when it opens next spring, be more or less fully let – a remarkable achievement given the present economic climate. The real test, however, will be ensuring that the large and prominent units being vacated by New Look, River Island, Topshop, et al do not stay empty for long.

Credit where it’s due to patrickratcliff at the SkyscraperCity forums for spotting this interesting new development!