Does gloomy store endanger customers?

I recently had dinner in New York with a well-known local designer who described a brand-new retail store on Fifth Avenue. "They're falling! Customers are falling in the store," he said. I was curious, so I went to take a look.

The store, a new (registration required for link) Abercrombie & Fitch, is like a speak-easy, with shuttered windows and interior lighting that is barely a notch above candle-light. I didn't see anyone fall, but several customers did stumble into me, "brailing" their way through the mind-shaft-like gloom. A large, artful mural that is background to the central stairway boasts a scene of beefy, semi-clad males scaling ropes—one that any gay bar would be proud to display. The music is thunderous; it is not possible to have a conversation in the store without shouting. Obviously a club atmosphere is what this retailer was after. It's store as night club—at any hour of the day. I suspect it will become a hook-up scene of major proportions—unless A&F decides they want to actually sell some clothes and turn on the lights so customers can see the merchandise. Of course sex sells—we all know that (better do room checks on those dark corners).

I just hope they factored in the cost of personal injury lawsuits when they designed and built the space. Falling in love is fun—even in a store—but falling down those steps could be a real bummer.

--RoxAnna Sway

Comments

[Kevin Dugan]

Visited the store earlier this week and I was wondering about the mural as well. My other observation is that it seems like a lot of space to sell jeans and t-shirts.