Urban Outfitters emphasizes 'cool,' lets employees design the store

Wall Street Journal: Amid the worst consumer-spending slump in years, Urban Outfitters Inc. has been racking up big sales and earnings gains without putting much merchandise on sale. The Philadelphia-based parent of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People stores, which recently reported a 79-percent jump in fiscal second-quarter net income, has been attracting shoppers with an eclectic mix of full-price clothing and home goods in stores where employees create their own displays.

Rather than saturate the market with cookie-cutter stores, the company plans to cap growth for each division at approximately 250 stores. The strategy is in keeping with a notion laid out by chairman Richard Hayne, the company's founder, that "big is the enemy of cool."

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