The Eagle Chooses Not to Land

American Eagle Outfitters (Pittsburgh) landed in the U.K. in 2014 with a bit of splash. In a single stroke, it opened three large stores – two in the pair of shopping malls owned and operated by Westfield in London, and a third in the Bluewater Shopping Centre, southeast of the capital.

At the time, it was hard to understand why there was so little above-the-line noise about this transatlantic arrival: While it’s almost universally known in the U.S., it’s almost equally absent from the consciousness of the majority of U.K. shoppers. As is often the case, London was seen by the retailer as an opportunity for expansion into other cities across the U.K. and, more broadly, into Europe.

The stores looked pretty good, and still do, with the core jeans department given prominence in each case. And recently, American Eagle opened a jeans-only pop-up store in London’s Old Street underground station. The pop-up closed Sept. 20, about the same time as its management announced that they were all set to expand into other U.K. locations, but that Oxford and Regent Streets would not form part of any its expansion.

This is unusual, since both thoroughfares have traditionally been the first port-of-call for many U.S. retailers seeking a European foothold – it’s a destination that the majority of U.K. shoppers will occasionally pass through. Now, consider the fact that American Eagle has a flagship in the Big Apple’s Times Square. The question that has be asked is whether this retailer has taken a long, hard look at central London’s price of entry and decided against it.

If this is the case, it marks a new strategy by a U.S. arriviste and it will certainly be interesting to see if it works, if it becomes universally known and whether others choose to follow suit.

John Ryan is a journalist covering the retail sector, a role he has fulfilled for more than a decade. As well as being the European Editor of VMSD magazine, he writes for a broad range of publications in the U.K., the U.S. and Germany with a focus on in-store marketing, display and layout, as well as the business of store architecture and design. In a previous life, he was a buyer for C&A based in London and then Dusseldorf. He lives and works in London.