Anthropologie news roundup: Mardi Gras in NYC, footwear in London, holiday sales numbers

photo from Editor at Large via Racked

The gallery at the Rockefeller Center Anthropologie has hosted everything from designer treasure chests to art and furniture from around the world to parties for socialites. Now New Orleans is coming to the gallery for an exhibition entitled Beyond The Quarter.

Featuring nine pieces from New Orleans artists, the show will feature furniture, lighting, rugs, and smaller pieces like decorative bowls. It’s part of Anthro’s continued commitment to the southern city, which also included opening a store there late last year. The exhibition will be on view at Anthropologie at 50 Rockefeller Plaza from January 19th – March 21st. Prices range from $880 – $5,800. Rock Center’s hours are Monday through Saturday 10 am – 8 pm and Sunday 11 am – 7 pm.

Further reading:
Anthropologie plans exhibit for NOLA artists at New York store (NOLA)
Anthropologie Rock Center celebrates Mardi Gras in January (Racked NY)

In other Anthro news, footwear is finally coming to our friends across the pond. Despite arriving in London last year, until now EU customers could only order shoes from the EU Anthropologie site. That will change in March, when an 18 sq meter space in the King’s Road store in London dedicated to Anthropologie’s boots, heels, clogs and flats will be unveiled. My friends in London were cheering when I told them this news yesterday!

If London is a bit far for you oversees residents there’s still some good news. Just as the physical footprint for shoes is expanding, so too is the online selection. Expect the EU site to offer more shoes beginning mid-March. Now if you could just reciprocate by sending some of those beautiful EU-only designs this way I’d much appreciate it.

Further reading:
Anthropologie launches footwear in the UK (Retail Week) 

One final bit of Anthropologie news. Last week Urban Outfitters released its holiday results and the news was mixed. The company set a new net sales benchmark, raking in $520 million for an increase of 15% over last year. Comparable retail segment net sales, which include their direct-to-consumer channels, increased 5% while comparable store net sales were flat.  Comparable retail segment net sales increased 3% at Anthropologie, 30% at Free People and 6% at Urban Outfitters.  Direct-to-consumer sales rose 28% for the period with all brands posting double digit growth. Wholesale segment sales jumped 32%.

Once again it was a very strong quarter for the direct channel, which includes catalogue, website and customer service orders. The bad news is that those results were caused in part by discounting at both Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie. While we as customers loved the 25% off sales which rotated through Anthropologie’s stock it’s a troubling sign for analysts. It shows that Anthro had too much inventory in Q4 and needed bigger markdowns to move that stock. This could be caused by a few things: the still-weak economy, designs that didn’t draw in customers or factors as obtuse as the weather.

I often disagree with the analysts’ takes but I think The Street hit it on the head:
In our view, Urban Outfitters is having difficulty interpreting new trends … into its women’s business at the namesake division, and there seems to be a missing element of fashion within men’s categories.

The analyst quoted was talking about Urban’s namesake brand mostly but I think the same can be applied to Anthro. My question is still: Why is Anthropologie trying to interpret the trends? I don’t go there for my latest in fashion. I go there for their beautiful designs which up until 2009 were unique and beautiful. There are still pieces like that but fewer and further between. I think the combination of the economy and the J.Crew effect are to blame here. I don’t want Anthro to become an Ann Taylor/Talbots/J.Crew clone. I want it to stay the store I’ve known and adored.

Further Reading:
Urban Outfitters Reports Sales Up 15% (The Street)
Urban Outfitters Turning Sour in 2011? (The Street)


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