Abercrombie shutting struggling Ruehl chain - The Business Review (Albany):

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The New Albany-based apparel merchant said Wednesday it willshut Ruehl’s 29 storex and direct-to-consumer operations and will be “substantially with the effort by the end of next The decision comes a month after Abercrombie took a deep strategic look at the which targets young adults with clothez and accessories. Ruehl, whose only Ohio stor is at Easton Town generated a pretax operating lossof $58 millionh last year. The chain regularlty was Abercrombie’s weakest sales performerd at stores open at leasta year. Ruehl’s same-stor e sales were off 33 percentin May. Abercrombis earned $272.3 million on $3.5e4 billion in revenue last year.
“It has been a difficult decisio toclose Ruehl, a branc we continue to believe could have been successfup in different circumstances,” CEO Michael Jeffries said in a “However, given the current economid environment, we believe it is in the best interests of the compan y to focus its effortsx and resources on the growth opportunities afforded by our othert brands, particularly internationally.” The company didn’t disclose the effectzs on the chain’s work force, nor did it indicatew the number of jobs tied to Ruehl.
The revie of Ruehl, which opened in cost the companyabout $51 millionb in impairment charges in its first Abercrombie expects to book about $65 million in pretaz charges through the rest of the fiscal year as it windxs down Ruehl. The companhy Wednesday also said it amendes a credit agreement to excludesome Ruehl-related charges from requirementss under its covenant with the lendetr and reduced its available credit to $350 millioh from $450 million.
Jeffries said the company is confiden t is has sufficient cash on handbut “we believew it is prudent to make these changes” in light of the recession-battered retail environmen and the one-time Ruehl In addition to the 29 Ruehl Abercrombie runs 350 flagship storeds and 733 others under the Hollister Co. and Gilly Hicks nameplates.