Type | Division |
---|---|
Industry | Retail |
Founded | September 2004 |
Defunct | January 2010 |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Number of locations | 29 [1] |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Mike Jeffries (CEO) |
Revenue | $50.2 million USD (2007) |
Owner | Abercrombie & Fitch |
Ruehl No.925 was an upscale clothing brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, selling apparel, leather goods, and luxury goods. Themed after New York City's Greenwich Village, the store was meant to attract post-graduate individuals aged 22 to 35, competing primarily with J.Crew, Polo Ralph Lauren, and American Eagle Outfitters' equally short-lived spinoff Martin + Osa. Ruehl was the only brand in the Abercrombie portfolio that sold clothing in the color black. [2]
The first Ruehl No.925 stores opened on September 24, 2004 at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, and at International Plaza and Bay Street in Tampa, Florida. [3]
Similar to Abercrombie & Fitch's moose logo and Hollister Co.'s seagull, Ruehl featured a French bulldog named "Trubble" embroidered on its clothing and accessories.
On June 17, 2009, Abercrombie & Fitch announced it would cease operations of the Ruehl brand. [1]
After the financial success of Hollister in 2000, Mike Jeffries began developing three additional retail concepts. The first of these to be revealed was Ruehl in September 2004. The first location opened at the International Plaza and Bay Street mall in Tampa, Florida, followed by Woodfield Mall in Chicago, and the third at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey. These stores were used to test the market before future expansion. While the clothing was similar to that of Abercrombie & Fitch, Ruehl was priced 22% higher. [4]
Ruehl's storefront was meant to resemble a series of brownstone buildings, with concrete walkways, hedges, flower boxes, and iron gates at the front door. The interior was sectioned off into numerous bedrooms, living rooms, and conservatories meant to mimic the interior of a home. Bookshelves lined the "living room", chandeliers hung from the ceiling of the "bedrooms", portraits sat on the floor, tilted against walls, and a central hallway divided the store in half.
At the time of the concept's closure, Ruehl had 29 full-line store locations in the United States: [1]
The brand also operated one off-mall accessories store, a 600 sq ft (56 m2) store at 370 Bleecker Street, New York City, New York. [5]
In July 2007, Levi Strauss & Co. filed a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch for trademark infringement, alleging that Ruehl jeans and other products used Levi's trademarked pocket design of connected arches. Levi's filed a similar suit against Polo Ralph Lauren. [6]
Paramus is a borough in the central portion of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A suburban bedroom community of New York City, Paramus is located 15 to 20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately 8 miles (13 km) west of Upper Manhattan. The Wall Street Journal characterized Paramus as "quintessentially suburban". The borough is also a major commercial hub for North Jersey.
Rainforest Cafe is a jungle-themed restaurant chain owned by Landry's, Inc., of Houston. The first location opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on February 3, 1994. By 1997, the chain consisted of six restaurants, all in the United States. The first international location opened in London, England in June 1997. In 1998, it was planned to build 12 additional restaurants in the United States, seven in Mexico, and five in the UK, for a total of 22 restaurants by 2008.
Garden State Plaza is a shopping mall located in Paramus, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Owned and managed by Paris-based real estate management company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the mall is situated at the intersection of Route 4 and Route 17 near the Garden State Parkway, about 15 miles (24 km) west of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Opened in 1957 as the first suburban shopping mall in New Jersey, it has 300 stores and 2,118,718 sq ft (196,835.3 m2) of leasable space, ranked in 2022 as the 16th-largest shopping mall in United States and qualifying it as a super-regional mall according to the standards of the International Council of Shopping Centers.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company that also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their ownership interests in 1991 to Jacob Price of Knoxville, Tennessee. American Eagle Outfitters is the parent company of Aerie and Todd Snyder.
Woodfield Mall is a shopping mall located in the northwest Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois, United States, at the intersection of Golf Road and Interstate 290. The mall is the largest shopping mall in the state of Illinois, the second largest being Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook. It is also one of the largest shopping malls in the United States. The mall features the traditional retailers JCPenney, Macy's, Nordstrom, and Primark.
Abercrombie Kids is a children's clothing brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, introduced in 1998. Originally targeting high school consumers aged 13–18 as "abercrombie" its focus has shifted to the 7–14 market as "abercrombie kids", the concept is designed as the children's version of its parent company A&F. There are 122 full-price abercrombie kids stores in the US, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom; including standalone retail stores and "carve-outs" in larger Abercrombie & Fitch locations.
Rugby Ralph Lauren was an American clothing brand launched in 2004 under the management of parent company Polo Ralph Lauren, the line has been retired. The brand specialised in Preppy/Rugby inspired lifestyle apparel for male and female clientele ages 16 through 25. Rugby also encompassed Rugby Food & Spirits, a small café modeled after the brand and offering dining inspired by the Rugby theme. Rugby merchandise was available at twelve stores throughout the United States, as well as one in Covent Garden in London, UK. By August, 2008 merchandise was also available online at Rugby.com.
Taubman Centers, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The company invests in shopping centers, and is a subsidiary of Simon Property Group since 2020.
C. O. Bigelow Apothecaries is an American pharmacy and beauty brand currently owned and operated by Ian Ginsberg. C. O. Bigelow was founded, as The Village Apothecary Shop, by Dr. Galen Hunter in 1838 in New York's Greenwich Village and is the oldest surviving apothecary–pharmacy in the United States.
Westfield Topanga is a shopping mall in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It has 1,588,050 square feet (147,535 m2) of gross leasable area and features Nordstrom, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Target. The mall has been owned by Westfield-affiliated companies since 1993, and has been owned by the present-day Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield since 2017.
Bergen Town Center is a shopping center located in Bergen County, New Jersey, USA. The center consists of both an indoor mall and exterior outlying stores and occupies over 105 acres split between the municipalities of Paramus and Maywood.
Paramus Park is a shopping mall located in Paramus, New Jersey, United States. It opened in 1974, is owned by Brookfield Properties, and has a gross leasable area (GLA) of 770,941 sq ft (71,622.8 m2).
Hollister Co., often advertised as Hollister or HCo., is a retail brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co, selling apparel, accessories, and fragrances. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store. Hollister says it was founded in 1922 in Hollister, California; however, it was founded in 2000 in Ohio by Abercrombie.
Viacom Entertainment Store was a proposed chain of merchandise stores offering product based on Viacom owned properties, including Star Trek, Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and other Paramount Pictures properties.
The Streets of Woodfield is a lifestyle center located at I-290 and Higgins Road in Schaumburg, Illinois, directly across from Woodfield Mall. McCaffery Interests, a Chicago-based real estate developer, rebuilt the mall into the present-day configuration as a shopping and entertainment mall anchored by Legoland Discovery Center, Restoration Hardware Outlet, and Dick's Sporting Goods. This lifestyle center also features outparcels across the street like Crate & Barrel and Whole Foods Market. There is also a 20-screen AMC Loews Streets of Woodfield 20. The lifestyle center is known throughout the area as a prominent shopping destination.
Gilly Hicks is a lingerie brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, specializing in women's intimates and loungewear.
Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of February 2020, the company operated 854 stores across all its brands.
The history of Abercrombie & Fitch began in the 19th century and extends into the 21st century. Key figures who changed and influenced the course of Abercrombie & Fitch's history include co-founders David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch, Limited Brands and Michael Jeffries, the former Chairman and CEO.