(Bloomberg) -- Apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co., which has emerged as one of America’s hottest stocks over the past year, is planning a full-fledged return to Hong Kong eight years after it shut its flagship store in the city, according to people familiar.
The company will rent two large stores in prime locations in the Asian financial hub, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deal is private. One is a 7,000 square-foot space in Hysan Place, a trendy mall in shopping district Causeway Bay, and the other a more than 10,000 square-foot lease in New Town Plaza, a popular retail destination in Hong Kong’s north.
Abercrombie adds to an expanding list of global fashion companies seeking to secure larger stores in Hong Kong — among the world’s most expensive real estate markets — amid falling property prices. The brands are betting on the city’s stronger spending power as compared with mainland China, as well as its long-term recovery from years of political turmoil and Covid closures that battered tourism and retail sales.
The retailer will pay about HK$1.5 million ($192,340) a month as rent for the Hysan Place unit, one of the people said. While that is higher than the about HK$700,000 that current occupant Fast Retailing Co.’s casual wear label GU pays, it will still be almost 30% cheaper than what Gap Inc. was paying owner Hysan Development Co. before moving out in 2020.
The store in New Town Plaza, owned by the city’s biggest developer Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., is currently occupied by Swedish fast fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB.
Abercrombie and Sun Hung Kai declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg, while Hysan didn’t respond to a request for comment.
After years of changing product designs, sales approach and corporate culture, Abercrombie is today one of the retail world’s most successful turnaround stories, with the brand particularly popular among millennials and Generation Z. Its stock price soared more than 236% over the past 12 months, even exceeding gains of tech giant Nvidia Corp.
Before its transformation, the brand was embroiled in scandals from selling children’s thongs emblazoned with words like “eye candy” to the revelation that management ranked staff by their looks and how “cool” they were. The company was also sued in the US and the UK for discrimination involving religion and disability.
When it opened its Hong Kong flagship in 2012 in a historic building in finance district Central, it staged a parade of shirtless, muscle-bound men. The store’s cologne-drenched air, good-looking shop assistants and blasting music became a lasting memory in the city’s retail world. The shop closed around 2016 amid slumping sales and the brand currently has two smaller stores across the city.
Other fashion groups expanding in Hong Kong include Mango, which has rented a 19,000 square-foot store in Central for about HK$1.2 million a month. Prada SpA will open a new store of about 8,000 square feet in New World Development Co.’s luxury mall K11 Musea.
--With assistance from Shawna Kwan and Lily Meier.
(Updates with details on rental value in the fourth paragraph.)
