We visited J. Crew’s flagship store and saw why the brand is in trouble

It’s been a rocky month for J. Crew.

First, its renowned creative director Jenna Lyons stepped down after 26 years. Then CEO Micky Drexler announced 250 job cuts at the company’s corporate headquarters. 

The brand is struggling. Same-store sales have been down for the past three years; dropping by 8% in 2016, following a 10% decrease the year before. 

And despite Drexler’s cost-cutting measures, the brand still has to deal with the fact that it’s losing customers to cheaper fast-fashion retailers such as Zara and H&M.

We went to check out exactly what is going on in its stores:

 

We visited J. Crew’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue on a Wednesday afternoon. The store is blocks away from its major competitors, Zara and H&M.

While J. Crew has seen three straight years of declines in same-store sales, these stores have seen growing sales, luring customers in with cheap prices and constant turnover of fashionable clothing and accessories.

From the outside, it’s instantly apparent that J. Crew is trying to fight back and become more competitive on price. A sign in the window reads “No – Brainers. Great Style at Great Prices.”

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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