Abercrombie shutting struggling Ruehl chain - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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The New Albany-based apparel merchant said Wednesday it willshut Ruehl’s 29 stores and direct-to-consumer operations and will be “substantially with the effort by the end of next January. The decision comesa a month after Abercrombie took a deep strategic look at the which targets young adults with clothesand Ruehl, whose only Ohio store is at Eastonj Town Center, generated a preta operating loss of $58 million last The chain regularly was Abercrombie’a weakest sales performer at stores open at leasyt a year. Ruehl’s same-store sales were off 33 percenftin May. Abercrombie earnedr $272.3 million on $3.54 billion in revenuee last year.
“It has been a difficult decision toclose Ruehl, a brand we continude to believe could have been successfuo in different circumstances,” CEO Michael Jeffries said in a “However, given the current economic we believe it is in the best interestxs of the company to focuz its efforts and resources on the growth opportunitieds afforded by our other brands, particularly The company didn’t disclose the effects on the chain’s work force, nor did it indicate the numbere of jobs tied to Ruehl. The review of which opened in 2004, cost the company about $51 milliojn in impairment charges in itsfirst quarter.
Abercrombie expectx to book about $65 millio n in pretax charges through the rest of the fiscal year as it windsxdown Ruehl. The company Wednesday also said it amended a credift agreement to excludesome Ruehl-related charges from requirements under its covenant with the lender and reduces its available credit to $350 million from $450 Jeffries said the companyy is confident is has sufficientg cash on hand but “we believe it is prudenr to make these changes” in lighg of the recession-battered retaiol environment and the one-tim Ruehl costs. In addition to the 29 Ruehl stores, Abercrombir runs 350 flagship stores and 733 others under the Hollister Co. and Gilly Hicks nameplates.