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Abercrombie
& Fitch to open
isle store
The clothing outlet will debut
By Tim Ruel
at Ala Moana this spring
Star-BulletinMainland casual clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch Co. plans to open its first store in Hawaii at Ala Moana Center this spring as part of a $70 million nationwide expansion.
The retail outlet will take more than 9,000 square feet at Ala Moana's new 118,000-square-foot upper level, finished last year, leasing agent Kay Day said yesterday. The store will open late this month or early in June, a company spokesperson said today.
Reynoldsburg, Ohio-based Abercrombie plans to open about 90 new outlets nationwide this year, bringing total stores to 340, according to recent filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
The retailer, which targets college-age consumers, has been beefing up operations since incorporating four years ago.
Abercrombie opened in 1892 to sell camping and hunting equipment. It was bought a century later by The Limited Inc., which repositioned the retailer into casual clothing and spun it off as a separately traded company in 1996.
The chain's net income has steadily climbed to $149.6 million last year, up 506 percent from $24.7 million in 1996.
But in the past 10 months, its stock price has fallen about 80 percent to $10.25 a share today after peaking just below $50 in July.
