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Company Perspectives:

Our established ability to understand our customers and connect with them on an emotional level is the reason for our success. The reason for this success is that our brands-Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People-are both compelling and distinct. Each brand chooses a particular customer segment, and once chosen, sets out to create sustainable points of distinction with that segment. In the retail brands we design innovative stores that resonate with the target audience; offer an eclectic mix of merchandise in which hard and soft goods are cross merchandised; and construct unique product displays that incorporate found objects into creative selling vignettes. The emphasis is on creativity. Our goal is to offer a product assortment and an environment so compelling and distinctive that the customer feels an empathetic connection to the brand and is persuaded to buy.

As the number of stores grew and the wholesale division was revamped, company sales increased. In 1990, net sales amoun ted to $37.4 million. In 1991, sales increased 17.3 percent to $43.9 million. Most of the increase, 75 percent, was due to new stores opened in 1990 and 1991. The largest selling product category in Urban Outfitters stores was women's apparel. In 1992, it accounted for one-third of total sales, followed by footwear and accessories at 27 percent, men's apparel at 22 percent, and apartment wares and gifts at 18 percent.

In October 1992, Hayne opened the first Anthropologie store in a renovated automobile dealership in Wayne, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, and named Glen Senk president. After 16 years of selling T-shirts, jeans, and work boots, and with his original chain doing well, Hayne thus took the company's strategy to older, more established shoppers living in the suburbs of major metropolitan areas. Anthropologie targeted customers who were focused on family, home, and career, with interests in travel, the arts, gardening, and reading. The Wayne store featured an espresso bar and placed greater emphasis on "hard-goods" such as furniture and a variety of home, garden, and tabletop products, including books and ceramics.

The decor of Anthropologie tended to be rustic and ecologically conscious. Product lines were intermixed and arranged in a variety of displays. For example, an antique bed might serve as the anchor for a section containing linens, towels, nightgowns, lingerie, soap, bath oils, picture frames, and mirrors. Another small area might feature children's clothes, books, toys, and note cards, while birdhouses and diaries of handmade paper might be found alongside men's sweaters and pants.

Urban Outfitters Goes Public in 1993

During 1993, Hayne opened two more Urban Outfitters stores, in San Francisco and Costa Mesa. Comparable store sales increased by 18 percent and total sales exceeded $500 per selling square foot for the first time. The wholesale division opened a large sales office in New York. Prices at Urban Outfitters stores during 1993 ranged from 75 cents for greeting cards to $450 for a World War I-style leather bomber jacket. At the Anthropologie store, prices ranged from $1.00 for a greeting card to $1,500 for an antique Mexican cabinet. The company implemented its "Shared Fate" program for employees and initiated a company-wide profit-sharing plan. Total sales for the year grew at 43 percent. In November, Urban Outfitters went public at $18 a share, raising over $13 million in capital through the initial public offering.

Hayne used the capital to continue his strategic plan of growth by adding new stores on the retail side of the business and attracting new customers to the wholesale division while increasing sales to existing ones. In 1994, he opened three new Urban Outfitters stores, two in Chicago and one in Pasadena, and indicated that he planned to open three or four new stores each year for next three years, some of which were planned to be located outside the United States, either in Canada, Europe, or both. Based on the success of the Wayne, Pennsylvania, store, two more Anthropologie stores were opened in 1994, in Westport, Connecticut, and Rockville, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. In the company's annual report that year, Hayne indicated he hoped to open three to four additional Anthropologie stores each year and that the company would invest heavily in expanding the Anthropologie division. Overall company sales grew by 30 percent from 1993. Recognizing that high rates of growth would be difficult to maintain, the company set a goal of 20 percent annual growth.

In 1995, an Urban Outfitters store opened in Portland, Oregon, and lease signings were announced in Austin, Texas, and Tempe, Arizona, moving the company into the Southwest. With steadily increasing sales during this time, the company gained a ranking as number 76 on the Business Week list of hot growth companies. As it neared the end of the 20th century, the Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie chains appeared to be going strong, and, after a quarter century, Hayne and his staff were still successfully anticipating and responding to shifts in fashion trends and the changing tastes of their customers.

Key Dates:

1970:

Richard Hayne and Scott Belair open the first Free People Store.

1976:

Hayne moves to larger quarters, changes the store's name to Urban Outfitters, and incorporates the company.

1980:

A second store is opened in Massachusetts.

1984:

Hayne creates the wholesale division to design, produce, and sell its own line of junior sportswear.

1990:

The wholesale division replaces its signature Urban Outfitters collection brand with three separate labels: Ecote, Free Peop le, and Anthropologie.

1992:

The first Anthropologie store opens.

1993:

The company goes public.

1998:

Urban Outfitters opens in London.

2002:

The first Free People retail store debuts.

Late 1990s and Beyond

Urban Outfitters entered the late 1990s on solid ground. Despite having to close its first location near the University of Pennsylvania due to poor sales, the company forged ahead with is growth plans, buoyed by strong sales at its remaining outlets. In 1998, Anthropologie launched its direct-to-consumer catalog. Later that year, Urban Outfitters made its debut in London, opening its first store on Kensington High Street.

During this period, Urban Outfitters' expansion was comparatively slower than many retail chains, however, despite the fact that it putting considerable effort into market research before deciding to open a store. Company officials called each location a "complete lifestyle" store and were diligent in making sure it knew what its target customers wanted. Hayne explained the lifestyle label in a November 1998 Retail Week article. "We have this concept where we have a unique and singular group of people that we are trying to service and we have a concept that emphasizes the lifestyle approach to servicing these customers. The product category to us is not particularly important, as long as we can make money, but the lifestyle is incredibly important."