Went to Meno Park Mall today. The mall was busy. It’s always busy whenever I go to this mall, but today it was very busy. I know the weather was lousy today, but with the amount of traffic going south on the Parkway this morning, I didn’t think there’d be anyone left in central & northern New Jersey to go to the mall. But there were, and they were out in force. If there’s an economic slowdown looming in Edison, NJ, I didn’t see it.
People everywhere are buying Fall clothing. Whether it’s technically Back to School-driven or not, people are buying long sleeves and pants in addition to getting the last clearance deals for the Summer.
Old Navy had all of their registers open with long lines. Far as I could tell, it was driven by their 50% Off clearance sale. I talked about Old Navy last week (see: “First look at Old Navy“), but from what I could see today, customers seemed to be responding well to the new BTS offerings, which have now taken center stage in the store. Kid at the counter laughed when I only had one item – he said that there was a line outside the door when they opened this morning, and since then, every order had been big. Is this a sign of a start of a good season for Old Navy, or just a reminder that the only time people responded to Old Navy in the past is when the merchandise is dirt cheap?
American Eagle looks set for BTS and I’d expect good numbers from them. Season after season, they really get better tuned to what their customer wants. Their denim looks great, the wovens look really sharp, and the corner of the store devoted to aerie is getting a lot of foot traffic. With the launch of standalone aerie stores coming this fall, look for big things from this company.
I don’t know where Express for Men is in their seasonal transition. I know the stores went through their clearance cycle recently, but this store didn’t seem full. It always seems a little emptier than it could be. Bad use of space, they could probably lose 1/3 of the space and not impede shopability or reduce the amount of merchandise on the floor. Also, the employees at certain locations – this one being one of them – seem to be less likely to greet customers than most of the other Express stores I’ve been in. Maybe it’s due in part to how crazy that mall is or maybe I’m just going in there at the wrong time, but generally, I’m not a fan of that location.
Everyone is geared up for BTS – even the Apple store. Buy a Mac for school and get a free iPod – what a promotion. That place is always swarmed.
On this day, the retailers I saw were definietely not complaining about gas prices. Everyone seemed to be happy with the volume of shoppers. At least in this area, I think retailers will see a good BTS season.
I’ve got a lot of thoughts about the Gap re-launch, which I will address in a seperate post, tomorrow.