American Eagle: AAFA’s Retailer of the Year

Jay Schottenstein, executive chairman and chief executive officer of American Eagle Outfitters Inc., has something of a novel perspective on retail. He is one of the few retailers who remembers what it was like to win when brick-and-mortar was a red-hot commodity and has also managed to win as a specialty retailer in the age of e-commerce. The company just logged its 16th straight quarter of comparable sales gains, with double-digit increases from its Aerie concept throughout. Those numbers stand out today — just American Eagle is recognized as the American Apparel and Footwear Association’s Retailer of the Year. But for Schottenstein, who has been chairman of the retailer throughout its 25 years as a public company and was also ceo for the first decade of that, this is at least the second-turn of the wheel. “In the mid-Nineties, the retailers were the darlings of Wall Street,” Schottenstein told WWD. “Every month when the sales would come out, it was like an index to the U.S. economy.” In the age of Amazon and complaints about foot traffic in stores, that seems like a long time ago indeed. But Schottenstein said there’s still hope and American Eagle’s performance is certainly bearing that out after a long, tough

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from WWDWWD http://bit.ly/2U2Mmfu