News; Abercrombie & Fitch opens Ginza flagship

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. on Tuesday opened its first Asian flagship store in central Tokyo, drawing a huge crowd as well as police to control the brouhaha, as the U.S. teen fashion retailer turns its eyes abroad for growth amid sliding sales at home.

Its 12-story building is located in the Ginza district, once the heartland of top luxury brands but now dominated by fast-fashion brands like Sweden's H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB, Zara of Spain's Inditex Group, and of course the Uniqlo chain operated by Fast Retailing Co.

Abercrombie, a U.S. luxury casual brand, promises to deliver the same "all-American" experience — including the buff, shirtless "store models" — found at its four other flagship stores, in New York, Los Angeles, London and Milan, Italy.

Some 700 people stood in a line that snaked around the Tokyo store as the doors were opened by international store models, clad in their signature red and blue-checkered shirts, with their cheery "Hi Guys" greetings in English.

"Abercrombie is unique and there's nothing like it in other brands," said Shinji Yamaguchi, a 20-year-old university student from Tokyo who joined the line Monday afternoon. "It's definitely exciting."

Its long-delayed entry into Japan comes at a critical time as the retailer, an icon of "preppy coolness" for fans in their late teens to early 20s, suffers months of double-digit declines in sales at home.

"The future of our business is tied to international growth," Chief Executive Officer Michael Jeffries said during a conference call in mid-November.

While Abercrombie already enjoys a strong following in Japan, the company also hopes to lure fans from the wider Asian region by opening its store in Ginza, a district popular with tourists. It is also eyeing opening its second store in Fukuoka Prefecture and its first in Copenhagen next year.

"Ginza is a great place to broadcast to the rest of Asia," said David Marx, a freelance writer and fashion market analyst in Tokyo. "A&F could use the store as a way to tell Chinese customers and other Asian customers about the brand in the luxury context."

Abercrombie, originally founded in 1892 as a store for sporting, hunting and outdoor gear, is known for its prominent customers in the past, including Theodore Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway.

The retailer, which now operates more than 1,100 stores worldwide under four brands, had long kept its domestic focus until the recession drove away customers from its high-end prices.

Experts said it may be difficult to convert the Tokyo store into Abercrombie's new engine of growth with Japanese customers also drawn to the affordable prices of fast-fashion brands, many of which were already making headlines months before Abercrombie's debut in Ginza.

"A&F is coming in the middle of a wave of fast-fashion brands, so consumers may be disappointed to find out that it's not cheap like the others," Marx said.

Kensuke Kojima, president of Tokyo-based apparel consultancy firm Kojima Fashion Marketing Co., also said Abercrombie's long-established "WASPy (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) and masculine image" does not match the current Japanese market trend for nonaggressive styles.

"This is my favorite brand," Kojima said. "But (Abercrombie's) fashion emphasizing the sculpted bodily beauty of the Greek and Roman times will not be embraced in present-day Japan."

But unlike many other retailers looking to reach out to a broader customer base, Abercrombie has deliberately avoided media exposure, expressing confidence that its zealous fans would flock to its stores regardless of tough economic times or changing fashion trends.

"Abercrombie & Fitch delivers a different kind of brand experience than our competitors," a representative said on condition of anonymity, citing company policy. "We sell more than just clothes, we sell a lifestyle. Our fans just get it."