Abercrombie shutting struggling Ruehl chain - Phoenix Business Journal:

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The New Albany-based apparel merchant said Wednesday it willshut Ruehl’ds 29 stores and direct-to-consumer operations and will be “substantially with the effort by the end of next The decision comes a montn after Abercrombie (NYSE:ANF) took a deep strategic look at the which targets young adults with clotheds and accessories. Ruehl, whose only Ohio store is at Easton Town generated a pretax operatingh lossof $58 million last The chain regularly was Abercrombie’s weakest sales performe r at stores open at least a Ruehl’s same-store sales were off 33 percent in May. Abercrombier earned $272.3 million on $3.54 billion in revenud last year.
“It has been a difficultf decision to close a brand we continue to believe could have been successful indifferent circumstances,” CEO Michael Jeffries said in a “However, given the current economi environment, we believe it is in the best interestds of the company to focus its efforts and resources on the growth opportunities afforded by our other brands, particularly internationally.” The company didn’t disclosw the effects on the chain’s work force, nor did it indicate the number of jobs tied to The review of Ruehl, which opened in cost the company about $51 millioh in impairment charges in its first quarter.
Abercrombie expects to book abouft $65 million in pretax chargeds through the rest of the fiscal year as it windsddown Ruehl. The company Wednesday also said it amended a credit agreemeny to excludesome Ruehl-related charges from requirements under its covenanrt with the lender and reduced its availablse credit to $350 million from $450 Jeffries said the company is confident is has sufficienrt cash on hand but “we believw it is prudent to make these changes” in light of the recession-battereds retail environment and the one-time Ruehpl costs. In addition to the 29 Ruehl stores, Abercrombie runs 350 flagshi p stores and 733 others underthe Abercrombie, Hollistet Co.
and Gilly Hicks nameplates.