Forever 21 flagship lives up to the hype

With all the talk of Forever 21 returning to Fifth Avenue, many people wondered if the store would be as great as expected. As a flagship store in one of the most high traffic tourist areas of New York City, and on an avenue synonymous with excellent shopping, there is very little room for failure. Well, on Saturday February 7th, 2015, Forever 21 proved that they would definitely live up to the hype.

The store had an excellent grand opening that brought in very high traffic (impressive with February usually being one of the slower months for retail stores), but the perks of getting to be at Forever 21 during their grand opening certainly helped. The store opened its doors this morning at 9 a.m., and the grand opening did not just feature a freshly apparel adorned store, but also a music performance by Cody Simpson (the pop star who briefly dated model Gigi Hadid) and the store also offered the first 500 people in line were also offered gift cards. There was even a ribbon cutting ceremony to add an heir of sophistication to the event.

Forever 21 will have some tough competition with competitors H&M, Zara, and Uniqlo right around the corner, but if they can stay on trend with Saturday, they will have no problem ensuring that their new flagship store is a success, and quite the flagship store it is. The store is over 36,000 square feet and covers over five stories, and carries all the Forever 21 basics including denim, shoes, and tank tops, but their stock also includes Forever 21 men’s, F21+, F21 Contemporary basics, athletic wear, lingerie, basic accessories and cosmetics, and given its massive size also has multiple checkout lines.
Read more about Forever 21 and it's competitors.

The store spared no stops for their opening, with a DJ hired to play music throughout the day on the entry level first floor of the massive store, and all hands on deck from security guards to ensure that the massive event would not exceed fire capacity or shoppers would go insane, to associates readily at hand for the expected massive influx of customers that would be lined up to see the only Forever 21 in New York City that could rival the mega store Forever 21 in Times Square. The Times Square store will be facing some major competition from their new sister store on Fifth Avenue, as this stores seems to lack many of the problems that the Times Square store has been criticized for, for example the new Fifth Avenue store is smaller, although it bolsters just as much product, and customers won’t find it too overwhelming to navigate for items with the selections being very well compartmentalized and the layout making it easier to find associates to help you.

One of the major aspects to the location of the new store is that it is also right around the corner from Rockefeller Center, an area that attracts many tourists year round and is home to the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree every December. The massive influx of tourists everyday helps drive traffic in all the retail stores in the area, easily helping to put this new flagship store neck and neck with the Times Square Forever 21, which has the glory of receiving the excess of tourists who come to Times Square every day. While it may have seemed that Forever 21 was going to have some tough competition being in one of the most high profile retail areas in New York City, it appears that with a successful grand opening its biggest competition will be itself against the other mega store Forever 21’s in the city.

The public has responded very well to the return of Forever 21 to Fifth Avenue, so all of the company’s efforts definitely have proven to be worth it. The proof will be in the pudding, however, otherwise known as the quarterly revenue reports, but by the looks of their opening, Forever 21 will be riding comfortably through Q1. It is a new era for Forever 21, and this flagship store is just the first in their plan to continue their success and begin to focus on their global expansion.