Hollister Co.

I have never been as disappointed with a place as I was when I entered Hollister Co. When I first saw it, not long after L1 had opened, it was dark and gave little away. I therefore assumed that it’s gloomy interior housed a new bar and that the bikini clad couple on the door were handing out drinks tokens to entice us in.
What the what? Another bleeding clothes shop. And a pretty crap one at that. And I don’t think that’s a harsh personal statement but a professional observation. For one it’s very dark, surely too dark to go shopping and two, the type of people who would probably want to shop in such gloom certainly wouldn’t want to wear USA branded beach wear.
It’s a very preppy look, very American Abercrombie & Fitch style, pastels and jumpers around the shoulders. OK so I have clearly made this personal but is there much surf in Upstate New York?
Expect to see many university freshers from the home counites sporting Hollister hoodies soon.

Well well, if there’s one brand that connotes pretention 100% than it has to be Hollister. I was baffled when I went into this shop for the first time, and subsequently more baffled on every visit since.
Firstly there’s the stench of ‘Hollister Cologne’ that reeks the shop out and smells like incense! Secondly there are the staff that greet you with ‘Hey guys what’s up’, or ‘Hey you guys what’s going on ‘as you enter the shop. These are scousers being paid to stand around saying American phrases to bewildered shoppers. I nearly wet myself when the most scouse girl in the Liverpool greeted me with ‘Hey dude, what’s going on’.
Then there’s the low level lighting, which I suppose is there to create ambience but just makes you wonder if the quality of clothing was so good why would they have the lights down low all day?
Finally there’s the prices.,£90 for a hoody? £50 for a Tee Shirt? No thanks; I’m not going to buy into this awful brand!.. That’s what’s up!

Hollisters shops follow a set formula of almost no lighting, a thick scent of there own brand cologne in the air conditioning and young shop assistants or «models» as the company refers to them.
The lighting is so dim that I recent bought a black jumper from there. When I arrived home and tried it on in normal lighting I soon realised it was brown! Holister’s main draw backs are its implied ‘uniqueness’ and ‘authentic’ surfing stylistic traits. Maybe if I could see properly, the atmosphere less tense or the clothes more unique then I would shop here more often. The clothes feature fairly large branding but are pretty decent quality to be fair and seem to age well.

With its strange tiki hut-​cum-​chinese restaurant frontage, overpowering cederwood scent and extreme approach to ambient lighting (i.e. non-​existent approach) Hollister does little to win me over with its aesthetic and atmosphere. This is a shame because the clothes certainly weren’t going to be able to. Hoodies with big obnoxious fluffy branding, board shorts with silhouetted palm trees on them and the infamous polo shirts, available in every ice pop colour you could imagine; bubblegum blue, raspberry pink, but not in black. They don’t sell that shade here (a friend who worked for the company for a while imparted that employees aren’t permitted to wear black at all).
The staff themselves also didn’t endear themselves to me. They’re not bad people (well, except my friend. He is a bad person) but they’re just so enthusiastic about trying to make you buy their unattractive clothing it hurts. Plus I’m easily intimidated by conventional beauty. A guy with a mop of bleach blonde locks had teeth so white they almost made my eyes bleed. Not for me I’m afraid.

Hollister Co. is an American lifestyle brand by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. The concept was originally designed to attract consumers aged 14 – 18 through its image and casual wear.
Dimly lit by spot-​lighting, the interior décor throughout includes leather armchairs, worn rugs, surf boards (some bearing «Hollister»), and potted foliage. A central room (housing body care merchandise and the cash wrap) plays as a «living room» and offers dozens surf or general popular culture magazines as reading material and for sale along with CDs. The merchandise itself is displayed on built-​in shelves and dark wooden tables, cots, and benches.
This is not the type of shop I would usually go to, however it deserves a lot of credit as it can be considered one of a kind plus it’s hot and trendy especially for teens.