Abercrombie is coming to Center City, replacing Vans on Walnut Street
Abercrombie is one of the top three brands shoppers wanted to see in the downtown shopping district, a recent report from Center City District found.
The Vans store at 1702 Walnut St. will be closing on Feb. 21, 2025, to be replaced by the first Abercrombie in Center City.
The company is expanding elsewhere in the region as well, with a new location slated for King of Prussia Mall in the new year.
A recent report on retail activity from the business advocacy group Center City District (CCD) included a survey of hundreds of shoppers, who reported that Abercrombie is one of the top three brands they wanted to see in Philadelphia’s downtown shopping district.
“Abercrombie is a great symbol of Walnut Street’s resurgence and reinvention,” CCD president Prema Katari Gupta said Tuesday. “It’s a retailer that is performing very well financially after rethinking its approach to better appeal to today’s customers, many of whom are the younger, college educated residential population that continues to grow in Center City.”
Paige Jaffe of Square Retail Consultants brokered the deal. Abercrombie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CCD’s November report found that retail occupancy in Center City remained steady at 83%, a slight dip from last year and still substantially lower than the 89% occupancy of 2019.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, experiential retailers like a Formula 1 racing arcade and mini golf themed Puttshack have become more common. Restaurants have boomed as well.
A great majority of businesses of all kinds have reported higher sales from “Open Streets” events held by CCD, where portions of Walnut and Chestnut Streets have been closed to traffic during select weekend days. CCD is planning more open streets events for 2025.
Some traditional retailers are still struggling.
Vans occupied its Walnut Street location since 2014, and according to a filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, twelve employees will be laid off as a result of the closure.
Vans still has a presence at many malls in the region including King of Prussia and the Cherry Hill Mall.
“To the extent VF [the company that owns Vans] has open positions at other retail establishments, it will encourage impacted employees to apply for those roles should they wish to do so,” reads the company’s filing.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that VF and many of its brands have been struggling in the wake of the pandemic. The company’s North Face location will be shuttered in Center City this upcoming January.
A representative for Vans did not respond to a request for comment.