Hollister Comes to SoHo After All (The Shophound)

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Hollister Comes to SoHo After All

August 28, 2007

Well, it looks like Hollister really is ready for prime time, or at least it will be in the Spring of 2009.
Abercrombie & Fitch have finally officially announced that they have leased a mammoth space at 600 Broadway in SoHo to turn into a Hollister flagship rather than another Abercrombie & Fitch store as we reported earlier. This would make sense because at 40,000 square feet it is doubtful that even Manhattan needs two giant Abercrombie flagships.
Of course, the difference between the two brands is mostly cosmetic. As most who are familiar with the two stores know, it's mostly a case of same clothes, different logos. While Hollister is ostensibly pitched to a slightly younger customer than Abercrombie, it always looks like the the same polos and cargo pants to us.
Here in Manhattan, though, we will probably be spared a couple of the store's typical annoying qualities one being the habit of clustering A&F, Hollister and sometimes even Ruehl stores together in the same corner of the mall, often next door to each other. The other is the fakey surf shack facade, which, presumably due to SoHo's historic district status, will thankfully not be implemented to ruin a perfectly good cast iron building.
You can be sure, however, that there will be a whole new slew of young model-like kids in flip-flops hanging by the entrance, and that the interior will be dark and gloomy with loud loud loud music like a haunted beach mansion with lots of potted palms and surfboard indicating its authentic surfer beach style...direct from New Albany OH.
Previously: Abercrombie In - Pottery Barn Out at 600 Broadway
Hollister (Official Site)