{"id":75577,"date":"2025-11-03T23:32:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T23:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/?p=75577"},"modified":"2025-11-04T03:45:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:45:32","slug":"urban-outfitters-expands-localized-store-concept-aimed-at-gen-z","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/urban-outfitters-expands-localized-store-concept-aimed-at-gen-z\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Outfitters expands localized store concept aimed at Gen Z"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/804491\/2025-11-03_12.14.42\/urban-outfitters-expands-localized-gen-z-store-concept.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Dive Brief:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Urban Outfitters is extending its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urbanoutfitters.com\/uo-new-store-concept-newsroom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new store concept<\/a> to more cities, following debuts in Houston and Glendale, California, the apparel retailer announced last week.\u00a0The format features a \u201cbrighter, more modern, and flexible design.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>By the end of this year, the concept will expand to Bethesda, Maryland, and next year seven more stores will get the new treatment. They will include both street and mall locations.<\/li>\n<li>Market research based on \u201cthe brand\u2019s community of highly engaged Gen Z shoppers\u201d shaped each store\u2019s highly localized approach. Beauty assortments and several of the retailer\u2019s private labels are also being expanded and elevated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Dive Insight:<\/h3>\n<p>Merchandising at these stores will take local shopping behavior and preferences into account, and the \u201cnew format gives us the freedom to shape our stores around our customers, their lifestyle, and the moments that matter most to them,\u201d Urban Outfitters President Shea Jensen said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The brand, like its sibling Anthropologie, has a long track record of inviting store environments in often idiosyncratic spaces, according to Lee Peterson, WD Partners\u2019 executive vice president of thought leadership. That\u2019s more easily accomplished on a streetscape than in a mall, but it can be done, he said.<\/p>\n<p>So far, images of the store concept as designed for Urban Outfitters\u2019 Glendale Galleria location suggest that the brand is opting to take a less edgy approach, resembling rivals like Gap, he warned. Jensen\u2019s 30-plus-year tenure at Nordstrom may have informed the option of tidier, well-lit merchandising.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DQcOieYgDX9\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s too early to hyper-criticize, but I actually was surprised,\u201d he said by phone. \u201cI think they&#8217;ve always been the most innovative brand in their ilk, so why would you want to create something as normal-looking as everybody else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gen Z likes vintage and secondhand stores in part because of their treasure hunt atmosphere and individual aesthetic, according to Peterson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaking shopping easier is kind of not what Gen Z is all about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Urban Outfitters is applying the store redesign to street-level as well as mall stores, citing research that Gen Z is driving traffic to malls. Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z consumers shop at malls, which are the generation\u2019s \u201cmost popular in-person shopping destination,\u201d per the company\u2019s press release.<\/p>\n<p>But Peterson pushed back against this contention, saying, \u201cThey do go there, but everybody goes to the mall every once in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Published by Dralys Blog \u2013 Stories | Insights | Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Discover more on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dralysstore.com\" target=\"_blank\">DralysStore.com<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pld-like-dislike-wrap pld-template-2\">\r\n    <div class=\"pld-like-wrap  pld-common-wrap\">\r\n    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" class=\"pld-like-trigger pld-like-dislike-trigger  \" title=\"\" data-post-id=\"75577\" data-trigger-type=\"like\" data-restriction=\"no\" data-already-liked=\"0\">\r\n                        <i class=\"fas fa-heart\"><\/i>\r\n                <\/a>\r\n    <span class=\"pld-like-count-wrap pld-count-wrap\">    <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,38],"tags":[260,197,238,257,258,256,204,259,255],"class_list":["post-75577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal","category-e-commerce-shopping","tag-customer-experience","tag-dralys-insights","tag-e-commerce-2","tag-fashion-retail","tag-gen-z","tag-marketing-strategy","tag-retail-trends","tag-store-design","tag-urban-outfitters"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/hl.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75578,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75577\/revisions\/75578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}