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Abercrombie & Fitch just made an announcement that might upset fans of the retailer.
While releasing first-quarter earnings this morning, the company revealed its plans to close several flagship stores for both its Abercrombie and Hollister brands over the next year.
Both the Hollister flagship store in New York City (in the SoHo neighborhood) and the store in Milan will close in 2019. The Fukuoka, Japan, location will shut its doors in 2020.
The news comes after the trendy retailer recently shut down flagship stores in Hong Kong and Copenhagen.
While shoppers might be a bit upset about the closures, the brand reported that sales from its NYC, Milan, Fukuoka and Copenhagen stores represented less than one percent of their total net sales in 2018.
A representative from Abercrombie & Fitch told TODAY Style the decision to close several of its largest stores is part of the company's renewed retail direction: "We put the customer at the center of everything we do and based on customer preference, we’re transitioning to smaller, more intimate, omnichannel focused spaces that cater to both local and tourist customers’ needs; large format, expensive flagships are not part of our future strategy."
And even though the brand is shutting down some major locations, they still have plans to "deliver approximately 85 new experiences through new stores, remodels and right-sizes this year," according to their earnings report.
Like many of its competitors, the brand seems to be adapting to the changing climate of shopping. And it doesn't look like they're going anywhere anytime soon.
"We believe stores matter and, based on current outlook, by the end of the year we’ll have opened more new stores than we’ve closed in 2019 with less square footage," an Abercrombie & Fitch official told TODAY Style.