Serving the fashion community with quality women’s bag for the past 123 years of a lifetime, the famous Henri Bendel bag shop with its headquarters in New York City is shutting down for good come January 2019.
The decision to shut down completely is due to the brand’s inability to stay afloat and poor sales despite their expected pull-off of $85 alone by the close of this year. L Brands Inc, which acquired the luxury brand in 1985, is focusing more on the company’s other brands, including Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and Express.
Leslie Wexner, chairman and chief executive officer of L Brands disclosed in a statement to WWD, “We are committed to improving performance in the business and increasing shareholder value. As part of that effort, we have decided to stop operating Bendel to improve company profitability and focus on our larger brands that have greater growth potential. This decision is right for the future growth of our company, but not easy because of the impact to our L Brands family. I want to thank our Bendel associates for their dedication to this iconic brand and to our loyal Bendel customers.”
Established in the year 1895 by Henri Willis Bendel, the luxury brand was the first retailer’s shop to have its own fragrance to offer in-store makeovers and to stage its own fashion show. Following the death of Henri in 1936 and the Bendel family selling the iconic brand in 1954 by his nephew, who was also called Henri Bendel, the brand has continued to add more value to its creations worldwide as well as setting the pace for other brands in the fashion fraternity to follow.
