Fabletics to open 24 new stores this year

Dive Brief:

Fabletics last week joined the retailers opening stores, announcing that 24 new locations will open this year across the country. The first came this month, a relocated and redesigned store in the Mall of America in Minnesota, according to a company press release.
Others slated for this year are one each in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oregon; two in Texas; and three each in California and Virginia. The activewear brand will end the year with 74 physical locations.
Stores opening this year will include "fitness boutiques" thanks to a collaboration with at-home rowing machine Hydrow.

Dive Insight:

Fabletics' brick-and-mortar expansion as described last week is less ambitious that its 2018 announcement that its fleet would grow to 100 locations, in line with plans first unveiled in 2016. This time its plans include not just more stores, but also more interactive tools within them, the company said.

Select locations will feature video installations and touchscreen technology that allow members to view Fabletics products on real people, the company said. Customers and brand ambassadors will soon be able to post photos on social media, per the release.

Sales associates will "offer in-store demos to members and guests, providing insight into the workout and unique perks for Fabletics 2 million+ VIP members, such as members-only pricing on apparel and accessories, early access to new capsules and on-demand fitness content through the new Fabletics FIT app," the company said.

The brand, which launched in 2013 online only, released a fitness app last month that is free for members and $14.95 each month for nonmembers. Those members are shoppers who sign up for the company's "VIP" membership, which garners them lower prices. Members are automatically charged $50 a month but have the option to skip a month. There have been some complaints that the process is cumbersome and difficult to cancel, although the company now allows members to cancel online.