News Now! | Abercrombie Centro Oberhausen Opening Debuts New Indoor Mall Prototype...

A&F Centro Oberhausen feat. the all-new mall prototype for Abercrombie & Fitch.

         BEARING A FACE of the future, the first mall-based Abercrombie & Fitch store in Europe henceforth welcomes the passionate shopper to experience the tomorrow now. Currently the only Abercrombie & Fitch store of its kind in the world (with a similar, adapted aesthetic having opened days prior in outdoors multi-level placement at the Chengdu IFS mall), A&F Centro Oberhausen in Germany is situated in the former Gilly Hicks spot in the shopping center, and it features the reimagined elements of the new A&F mall prototype.

Associates and fans had a most wonderful inaugural day in experiencing the spirit of this new premium location now live! Check out sharings from the day...

"Grand opening today!"   |   Image, @jan_saunier, associate
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"Abercrombie and Fitch Store Eröffnungsfeier in #Oberhausen :)"   |   @iam_mark1922
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"We did it!"   |   @bvaimart, associate
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"Wer auch immer du bist, danke für das bild haha"
[Whoever you are, thanks for the pic haha]   |   @ginnylein, fan
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Abercrombie & Fitch plans on introducing the all-new mall store prototype in the American market during this third quarter (Q3) of the 2014 fiscal year; it furthermore anticipates on accelerating this revamp expansion across the chain in the United States during FY2015. There is no official word yet on further upcoming mall locations in Europe, though A&F has plans to open another in China by this year's end, and the rate of openings expansion across the Chinese market is to accelerate during FY2015.

Very coolly the nation with the most international A&F locations to its own, Germany now boasts six Abercrombie & Fitch stores: three flagships (Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Munich), one mall store (Oberhausen), and two outlet stores (Wolfsburg and Zweibrucken). Furthermore, North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen) – the most populous, wealthiest in terms of GDP, and most industrious – is the only state to be home to two A&Fs – Düsseldorf and Oberhausen – in the country.

The description page for Abercrombie & Fitch on CentrO's website uses a slightly altered version, and in German language translation, of the new descriptor released in July for the brand (along with those of the rest of the A&F Family):

"The modern Abercrombie & Fitch is the next generation of effortless all-American style. The essence of laidback sophistication with an element of simplicity, A&F sets the standard for great taste. Confident and engaging, the Abercrombie & Fitch legacy is rooted in a heritage of quality craftsmanship and focused on a future of creative ambition."

"Das heutige Abercrombie & Fitch ist die nächste Generation vom leichtgängig typisch amerikanischen Stil. Mit seiner Art von Einfachheit und Raffinesse setzt A&F den Maßstab für guten Geschmack. Vom klassischen Campusleben bis hin zu Impressionen auf Reisen erweckt A&F Geschichten von Abenteuer und Entdeckungen zum Leben. Zuversichtlich und fesselnd ist das Vermächtnis von Abercrombie & Fitch, basierend auf hochwertiger Handwerkskunst mit dem ehrgeizigen Streben in eine kreative Zukunft."

The future is gold, indeed...

Stay FIERCE!

Check out the preceding post for further detail on location and perspectives (here).

A&F Centro Oberhausen (DE-ANF; #11191)
Centro Allee 117 - C043
46047 Oberhausen
Deutschland
Tel: 02086 2018647

Opening day: 10:00AM - 9:00PM (21:00)
Monday-Saturday: 10:00AM - 8:00PM (20:00)
Sunday: closed

Follow @TheSitchonFitch

News Now! | Abercrombie & Fitch CentrO Oberhausen...

         IN WHAT IS becoming the post-flagships openings era for leading international expansion efforts for the Abercrombie & Fitch brand, we are now experiencing the rise of overseas mall-based premium locations. The first international stores did technically open in Canada back in 2006, though those were merely an extension of the A&F chain format from the United States on into the greater North American market. Overseas expansion took off with the entrance into the European and Asian markets in 2007 and 2009, with A&F London and A&F Tokyo, respectively, and now the Company (well into the 2010s and in a markedly different world at large) is making those regional markets' primary robust economies the ground for its first overseas mall shops – China, which will be opening its first of such at the Chengdu IFS, and now Germany in CentrO Oberhausen...

The Abercrombie & Fitch community well knows of the CentrO shopping center as having been most famously the host of the first and only Gilly Hicks store – opened on 8 December 2011 – in continental Europe, and it was the last GH location to close in the chain this year. Well, the Company made the decision to convert the retail unit at CentrO into Europe's first Abercrombie & Fitch mall-based shop.

Although a pragmatic choice in part of the Company, the development of opening such an A&F location at CentrO is considerably susceptible to eyebrow raising. Crestfallen will be the British fan who has been expecting to have the first for a mall-based overseas A&F since the London opening; Abercrombie's presence there has been greater and furthermore reasonable premium expansion in the United Kingdom is long overdue. However, in Germany, while the fans there can rejoice, the decision to plop the shop in Oberhausen – what various Germans across the board consider an unappealing rural place (to sum-up their words politely) with CentrO as the only thing to do there – is mixed with subtle sentiments that it's not most ideal, at least, for a new retail endeavor (the same opinion they have over having introduced Gilly Hicks there in the first place). Nevertheless, CentrO itself is a great, wonderful attraction on the Continent; it is located in Nordrhein-Westfalen – the country's state with the highest GDP and at the heart of the "European megalopolis" – and is among the biggest of mall's in the EU and boasts popular European and international brands.

Hiring process for A&F CentrO Oberhausen has now been ongoing, and this latest FIERCE gift to Germany – reportedly around 500sqm (about 5,400sqft) – is still under wraps for now...

Joining its Hollister Co. sibling only a walk away, A&F CentrO Oberhausen opens doors this fall...

Stay FIERCE!

P.S. In July, Abercrombie & Fitch also opened its first outlet store locations in Germany at Wolfsburg Designer Outlets (in the state of Lower Saxony/Niedersachsen) and the more elusive Zweibrücken Style Outlets (in the state Rhineland-Palatine/Rheinland-Pfalz).

Image in this post by Erik94 of Neu Eröffnungen.

Follow @TheSitchonFitch