Youth-oriented American fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch will open its first Vancouver location this year. It’s technically not the first time that the brand has had a Vancouver store, however, as its Canadian flagship once operated in the city. When open, it will be Abercrombie & Fitch’s fifth Canadian location.
Vancouver’s Abercrombie & Fitch will locate under Pacific Centre‘s new Nordstrom, according to Business in Vancouver. We’re awaiting details of it’s opening date, which will be after the June 17 opening of the mall’s new 44,000 square foot retail wing. The 230,000 square foot Nordstrom, itself, will open on September 18 of this year.
Abercrombie & Fitch operates four other Canadian locations, including stores at Chinook Centre in Calgary, West Edmonton Mall, as well as at Toronto Eaton Centre and Toronto’s Sherway Gardens.
Known for preppy moderately priced men’s and women’s clothing and accessories, Abercrombie & Fitch was founded in 1892 in New York City. The brand is now headquartered in suburban Columbus, Ohio, and has over 1,000 retail locations worldwide. It also operates two parallel brands, Hollister and Abercrombie Kids, both operating free-standing Canadian units under their own nameplates.
Some may be unaware that until 1993, Abercromie & Fitch operated its Canadian flagship location at Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre. The store operated under the brand’s previous conservative multi-brand business model, and was a franchise operated by now defunct Woodward’s department stores. Woodward’s was purchased by Hudson’s Bay Company in 1993 and in the process, HBC shuttered Abercrombie & Fitch’s Canadian locations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal.
