Ruehl 925

New store at Woodfield: Ruehl 925. It bills itself as business casual style meets Greenwich Village attitude. The way I understand it is that it's a new concept store owned by Abercrombie and Fitch. This is the first Ruehl 925 to hit the Midwest. Catherine and I checked it out while we were shopping because it caught our eye. Instead of the usual storefront, it's a bungalow sort of facade with salespeople outside holding flowers and welcoming people. Inside, it's divided up into rooms like a house. Think of J.Crew meets Hollister/Abercrombie meets Banana meets Kenneth Cole. Yeah, that kind of nice. It's subtle lighting and none of that pulsing rock you get when you go to the teeny-bopper stores.

It's a bit more expensive than Abercrombie's main store; it's also a lot more mature. That means no baby tees. It's also the only Ruehl 925 in the Midwest so far.

This is Abercrombie's time to expand. Like Gap, they are stretching their brand name to different markets. They're adding this market to their current 727 Abercrombie stores, 171 Abercrombie Kids stores, and 197 Hollister stores. Seems to me that they're doing their branding in a more mature fashion also...none of that controversy that happened with their Abercrombie magazines and suggestive/racial t-shirts. I didn't even know that Abercrombie was Ruehl 925's parent company until I did some background research. We'll see how Ruehl 925 performs.

In other news, if you haven't heard by now, Gap is also extending their brand name into a new niche store for people in their middle ages. Their new concept store will be called "Forth and Towne" and the main market will be in Chicago with only one other store in NY, I believe. I think this might be a flop actually...it doesn't sound very trendy. Sounds matronly, actually. With all the questionable clothing at Gap nowadays, I think Gap needs to take a look at itself and go back to the old days when it was just all classic clothing that served all age groups. That was their brand, and I never really understood why they went away from it.

Sale Bonanza

This weekend:

1. Old Navy Friends and Family 20% off
2. Banana Republic Friends and Family 30% off
3. Kenneth Cole Friends and Family 30% off
4. Bath and Body Works Tutti Dolci Lip Gloss Free with Purchase and Coupon
5. Archiver's Scrapbooking extravaganza - Make It and Take Its
6. In NYC: Jimmy Choo's sample sale...up to 60% off. NICE!

On Thursday, Starbucks had its Cheer Party at its stores. They gave out free tall holiday coffees, your choice of eggnog latte, gingerbread latte, or peppermint mocha. I got the gingerbread latte. Yum. I love Starbucks. I love their red holiday cups. And I love their stenciling on the cardboard thing they put around the cup. What is that anyway? Is it a gripper? Or is it supposed to prevent you from burning yourself? I have never figured it out. They also had cranberry cream bars. Although I don't like cranberries, this was delish. As Kunj and I talked about it later, if we had been in the same town, we would have traipsed all over hitting every Starbucks.

I wonder how Bath and Body Works is doing in revenue...because they seem to have a lot of these free offers with purchase lately. It's very interesting, considering Limited Brands, Inc. is under their predicted forecasts this year. I know some of their stores aren't doing as well as from the market and stock reports, but I wonder how Bath and Body Works is holding up. Victor and I will have to have a conversation about this. Speaking of stores that are owned by Limited Brands, Inc., Express is having their semi-annual pant sale, $29.50 and up. It started yesterday.

Wal-Mart is under their predicted forecasts also. As a result, they have unveiled a new holiday advertisement, having chosen 25 "gadgets" to promote as newly-reduced merchandise. We'll see how this works for the company who only puts out circulars 12 times a year.