Have a question about Philly’s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover. In 2025, expect to see more retail turnover in Center City as two stores are slated to close and at least one will open. Outdoor clothing business The North Face and popular skateboard shoemaker Vans are closing.
It’s expected that Abercrombie will open in 2025, but a timeline has not yet been released. Both of the closing retail brands are owned by the Denver-based VF Corporation, which was founded in Pennsylvania as the Reading Glove and Mitten Manufacturing Company in 1899. VF Corporation also owns brands such as Timberland shoes, Dickies clothing and JanSport backpacks.
Seventeen employees at the North Face near Rittenhouse Square are expected to lose their jobs by the end of January 2025. The store closure coincides with the end of its lease, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter on file with the state. Neither Abercrombie nor VF Corporation responded to a request to comment for this news story.
Plans for a stand-alone Abercrombie store are in the works across the street from Philadelphia-based fashion retail competitor Urban Outfitters on Walnut Street. (Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza/WHYY) By the end of February, another 12 workers at the authorized retailer of Vans near 17th and Walnut streets will also be laid off as its lease is also over, records .