MICHELE NORRIS, host:
Now, we've been making light of what Black Friday is like for store employees, but at times those employees face perilous situations. And we saw that today at a Long Island Wal-Mart, where a worker was trampled to death. Police say he was standing at the entrance to the Wal-Mart at the 5:00 a.m. opening time, when a crowd of people broke down the doors.
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NORRIS: While many retailer stores are struggling for business, our New York correspondent Margot Adler has been noticing a different trend. Every morning she walks down Fifth Avenue and passes a huge line in front of Abercrombie & Fitch, right before opening time. Rain, shine, good times and bad, the line is always there, and not because of any sales. Margot recently set out to find out what's going on.
MARGOT ADLER: This day, there are more than 250 people lined up around the block, and here is the first tipoff: everyone has a foreign accent. Everyone I speak to, about 25 people, are from Europe or Latin America, England, Ireland, Russia, Brazil, Spain. Caroline Preacher(ph) and Catherine Bryan(ph) are here from the U.K. and they've come for the prices.
Ms. CAROLINE PREACHER (British Shopper, Abercrombie & Fitch, New York): We're from London and it's much cheaper here.
Ms. CATHERINE BRYAN (British Shopper, Abercrombie & Fitch, New York): And you have to be on line because it's the worst store in New York. It's dark, the lines are huge, so you get here early to get out quickly.
ADLER: And how much cheaper is it?
Ms. PREACHER: Fifty percent.
Ms. BRYAN: It cost you 50 pounds for a t-shirt in London which is, what, $75-$80.
ADLER: Here, it's closer to $40 or $50, they say, which is the same thing I see on the website. $50 for a T-shirt? Javier Armador(ph) from Spain wants the following.
Mr. JAVIER ARMADOR (Spanish Shopper, Abercrombie & Fitch, New York): (Spanish spoken).
ADLER: Shirts, t-shirts, and why is he on the line?
Mr. ARMADOR: (Spanish spoken).
ADLER: Cheaper, cheaper.
Mr. ARMADOR: (Spanish spoken).
ADLER: They don't have the brand in Spain, and New York prices are cheaper. Eric Cerny, manager of investment relations for Abercrombie & Fitch, says the A&F brand has garnered incredible international support over the years. This Fifth Avenue store had sales of over $100 million last year.
Mr. ERIC CERNY (Manager, Investment Relations, Abercrombie & Fitch): It personifies that classic, cool, casual, all-American attitude.
ADLER: That's exactly the reason, says Laura Champine, a retail analyst with the investment bank Cowen and Company, that Europeans love Abercrombie & Fitch.
Ms. LAURA CHAMPINE (Retail Analyst, Cowen and Company): It's super American and it's super casual. I think it's very different from the traditional European fashion brands.
ADLER: That said, she says, although this store is flourishing and seems to say, recession? What recession? Abercrombie & Fitch is not doing that well in its other stores across the country.
Ms. CHAMPINE: Their total sales are declining at a 20-percent pace. Some of it is that their product really hasn't changed much in years, and secondly they don't really promote. I think this is a very promotional climate, with consumers really looking for the best deals they can find, and those deals are not available at Abercrombie.
ADLER: But for Mary and Sheila Murphy, deal or no deal, it's something that any tourist would want. Why are you standing on this horrible line at this time in the morning, in the middle of a big recession?
Ms. SHEILA MURPHY (Irish Shopper, Abercrombie & Fitch, New York): We're from Ireland.
Ms. MARY MURPHY (Irish Shopper, Abercrombie & Fitch, New York): I came yesterday evening at half five and everything was sold out. No sizes, so we just thought(ph) we'd come down early in the morning, first thing. You get a better choice.
ADLER: Is it cheaper here than in Ireland?
Ms. SHEILA MURPHY: This would be 50-percent cheaper.
ADLER: There's a value added tax in Europe, one of several reasons prices are higher there, but here on Fifth Avenue, there s clearly one store that's not feeling the recession. Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.
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