Upscale US fashion label Henri Bendel — known in recent years for its luxury handbags and shoes — is to shut down in January next year after 123 years in business, parent company L Brands Inc announced.
The Bendel Web site and all of the label’s 23 stores in the US, including the flagship location on New York’s Fifth Avenue, are to remain open through the holiday shopping season, L Brands said in a statement.
However, from the start of next year, the parent company said it will put its focus on the group’s more-profitable labels.
“We are committed to improving performance in the business and increasing shareholder value,” L Brands chairman and chief executive officer Leslie Wexner said in a statement on Thursday.
“As part of that effort, we have decided to stop operating Bendel to improve company profitability and focus on our larger brands that have greater growth potential,” Wexner said.
The closing of the Bendel stores, whose well-heeled customers could be easily spotted in Manhattan thanks to the label’s chic brown and white-striped packaging, marks the end of a fashion journey begun in 1895.
That year, Louisiana-born designer Henri Bendel, originally a hatmaker, opened his first shop in New York’s Greenwich Village.
The company boasts that Bendel was the first luxury retailer with a store on upper Fifth Avenue — an area that today is home to the world’s top brands.
In the 1960s, the company hired Andy Warhol as an in-house illustrator.
Thanks to the popularity of the television show Sex and the City, Bendel won over a new generation of fans.
Bendel women will likely stock up on the company’s offerings before year’s end, with L Brands promising “new merchandise during that period.”
Bendel, which was acquired by L Brands in 1985, is experiencing sluggish sales: It is expected to post an operating loss of US$45 million for this year, against revenue of US$85 million, the parent company said.
L Brands controls a stable of labels including lingerie shop Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.
Last year, the group — which operates more than 3,000 stores in the US, Canada and Britain — reported revenue of more than US$12 billion.
It did not say how many employees would be affected by the closure of Bendel.
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