Hollister Co.

Hollister Co., often advertised as Hollister or HCo., is an American lifestyle brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. The concept was originally designed to attract consumers aged 14–18, at a lower price point than the parent brand through its SoCal -inspired image and casual wear. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store. It was ranked as the second most preferred clothing brand of US teens on a long list of actual West Coast companies in 2008 by Piper Jaffray. History: Establishment Hollister Co. does not bill itself as a hardcore surf line. According to A&F spokesperson Hampton Carney, “We’re not going after the ‘core surfing market. It’s more about the lifestyle and inspiration, rather than the actual activity.” Although Hollister Co. was founded in 2000, Abercrombie & Fitch has created a fictional history surrounding its founder. According to this history, John Hollister, Sr. emigrated from New York to the Dutch East Indies, and established the company bearing his name upon returning to the United States and settling in California in 1922. Opening and effect. The first store opened in July 2000 at the Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. HCO's rapid success led Abercrombie & Fitch Co. to notice that the HCo. brand then surpassed the Abercrombie & Fitch brand. In order to properly distinguish A&F from HCo., higher-grade materials and construction were introduced strictly in the production of A&F clothing and goods, thus raising the prices of the merchandise. Hollister primarily targets the 14 to 18 years old demographic; however it sells to people aged mainly 12 years old to 30 years old. From international expansion to today Hollister shop in Hong Kong: Abercrombie & Fitch Co. expanded into Canada in mid-January 2006. A&F opened Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister Co. stores at the Toronto Eaton Centre and Sherway Gardens shopping malls in Toronto, Ontario. These openings were delayed from the end of 2005 to early 2006 by construction and planning issues. As of 2009, HCo. locations in Canada were: Sherway Gardens, Toronto Eaton Centre, and Fairview Mall in Toronto, the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, and Upper Canada Mall, in Newmarket, Ontario, and Pacific Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia as of January 29, 2009. In 2010, the store's eighth location in Canada opened at Polo Park in Winnipeg, and a store opened on October 29, at Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener, Ontario. In 2011, the first Hollister store in Atlantic Canada opened at the Halifax Shopping Center in Halifax. Stores also opened in Hamilton, Ontario and Brampton, Ontario in 2011. Starting summer 2007, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. spent an approximate amount of $10 million USD to install video walls into Hollister Co. stores nationwide. The walls play live-feed from Surf City Huntington Beach, California to provide customers with a flavor of the SoCal surf atmosphere HCo. promotes. Hollister pays the city of Huntington Beach for the cameras located on the Huntington Beach Pier. By October 2, 2007, 100 select Hollister California stores began to promote Abercrombie & Fitch Co.'s fifth brand Gilly Hicks prior to the latter's debut in January 2008. Advertising was achieved through a variety of body care items including body sprays, deodorant, soaps, lotions, and lip balms called Sessions. On October 25, 2008, Hollister Co. opened its first store outside of the U.S. and Canada in Brent Cross, London. In December 2008 Hollister Co. opened its second store in the UK in Westfield London and a third at the upmarket Bluewater shopping centre, Kent, UK. Further more, after the success of the UK HCo. stores in London, the first Hollister store outside of London was opened on May 14, 2009 in WestQuay Shopping centre in Southampton, its fifth UK store was opened in Milton Keynes at the beginning of 2010. There are also Hollister stores in Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre, Norwich's Chapelfield shopping centre, Birmingham's Bullring, Manchester's Trafford Centre mall, Solihull's Touchwood Centre and Newcastle upon Tyne's Eldon Square there is also a store in Westfield Stratford city and in the Oracle shopping centre in Reading, Glasgow and Edinburgh as well. Hollister Co. has also opened stores in Italy (Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, Bergamo), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Oberhausen, Hamburg, Ludwigshafen, Neuss, Bonn, Cologne and Dresden), and more recently in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Valencia, La Coruña, Zaragoza and Marbella). In 2011 Hollister opened its first store in Dublin, Ireland in the Dundrum Town Centre. Marketing for the HCo. flagship was launched in May 2009. The extensive marketing campaign advertised the store as "The Epic Hollister Store." A&F launched HCORideTheWave.com which offered electronic postcards, downloadable wallpaper and screensaver as well as directions to the flagship and a promotional film with computer-generated graphics of the multi-level floor layout and design. A countdown timer called the "Epic Countdown" tells the remaining time down to seconds till the opening. The first flagship for the HCo. brand was finally opened July 16, 2009.