Ralph Lauren’s Rugby label closing up shop

It is with great sadness today that I report the closing of Ralph Lauren’s Rugby label. The brand has 14 stores around the globe including the London store, which opened in Covent Garden just over a year ago. All 14 stores and the e-commerce site will cease to exist as of February 2013. The news was reported in a matter-of-fact way within a report WWD issued this morning. While the report started on a relatively high night, concentrating on the plus points for retail in the last quarter, it ended with the following quote concerning Rugby:

“”The company said Friday that after the second quarter ended, the firm
approved a plan to discontinue its Rugby brand operations “in order to
focus resources on higher growth, more scalable global opportunities
with the core Ralph Lauren brand.”The company will close 14 stores and the e-commerce Web site over the balance of fiscal 2013.”

Truly heartbroken at the news that Rugby will be no longer. But here are some thoughts to turn that Rugby frown upsidedown… First up, with every closure there’s a sale. So let’s wait for more news on this. And second, we can now expect a new store to arrive in the heart of Covent Garden where Rugby formerly found a home. Any guesses as to who will next call it home?

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