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Monday, June 10, 2013

Comin' Up! Hollister Co. Utrecht, Netherlands Store...

Oudegracht 113 with its black hoarding wall, April 2013.
Photo by Thomas for The Sitch on Fitch.
Curious was the location at Oudegracht 113 – a structure of subtly dignified facade and looking ever so overhead that tranquil Old Canal – in the beautifully historical Dutch city of Utrecht. What had once been the home of the Free Record Shop had suddenly then become the subject of a heated rumor in the Spring of 2013. Such rumor, touting an arrival of the Apple Store to Utrecht, was soon found to have been based on nothing more than a poor prank on the retail aficionados of the city: somebody had thought it funny to place a mock-Apple logo on the black hoarding wall in front of the property. However, dismay can be washed away, as most others felt so anyhow, by an impending wave of cool of the Southern California fantasy!

Hollister, now with an impressively powerful presence across the European retail scene, is gearing up to the opening of its second store for the Netherlands in Utrecht, indeed! Considering the quite southern and set-off position of Maastricht – home of the first Dutch HCo store – from the rest of the country, this upcoming opening in Utrecht is ideally more accessible to the nation's greater population density concentration...furthermore, Utrecht is only southeast from Amsterdam itself and bringing the brand closer to the capital. "Hollister's Great March to Amsterdam," we could amusingly call it!

An outstanding building on the Oude Gracht, No. 113 is among its most exceptional. Named "Frese Burch", its original form had been erected near the middle of the 13th century. During the siege of the Vredenburg castle nearby – an event which occurred in the latter-half of the 16th century during the Eighty Years War – the back of the Frese Burch was destroyed. Vague is the greater history of the Frese Burch, though what is more so clear is the year of 1858 when the facade was completely reconstructed in the elegant style of the period. Today, remnants of the medieval period remain in synthesis with the change of the modern age. The property is a three story building of reputable recognition and even includes a house cellar and stair tower.

The Frese Burch building as seen during its time as home to Free Record Shop (note the exquisite detail of the facade)...






Our new Dutch contributor, Thomas, took these pics of when Hollister Co. advertising was finally plastered onto the black hoarding wall by mid-May...









HCo Oudegracht (store #31267) is under construction and scheduled to open in the Back-to-School 2013 fashion season which begins by around mid-July. We've heard through the grapevine that the opening day may be Thursday, September 5, but we can't say that's officially concrete at the moment at all. Hiring is in motion as of now, however. Naturally, we'll keep ya updated in collaboration with our great guy Thomas...

Stay FIERCE!

UPDATE: STORE OPENING IS SET FOR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26!!!

UPDATE (5 SEPTEMBER 2013): Work on HCo Utrecht is nearing completion. Read the update post, (here)!
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