I am writing to express my dismay when I drive or walk by the Urban Outfitters store in downtown Asheville and see their large double doors propped wide open, no matter what the weather.
In the summer, you are blasted with cold air from their AC on the sidewalk. In the winter, the heat must be pouring out. This is a terrible waste of our resources and sends the wrong message to the young people who shop there. For me, it is a turnoff and makes me want to boycott them. I can’t imagine what their heating/cooling bills must be like.
But mainly it shows a total disregard to our environmental issues and all the damage that comes with using energy, let alone wasting it it such huge quantities. It makes me wonder if all their stores do this?
Shame on them! This should stop immediately! Set a better example, Urban Outfitters!
— Troy Amastar
Alexander
Yes,
It’s more about all of the CHAINS that are infecting downtown. STAPLES, URBAN OUTFITTER, JIMMY JOHNS…ETC ETC! Isn’t there a city ordinance that restricts them? Did they buy our elected officials (thru campaign financing) like every other HUGE CORP does?
Staples is not in downtown. They are adjacent to downtown, but they are in the North AVL side of Asheville.
The letter-writer raises valid points, but unfortunately, Urban Outfitters is unlikely to be moved. A brief review of some of their ‘greatest hits’ in recent years include: a blood-stained Kent State tee shirt, pro-booze shirts for pre-adolescents, whiskey shot glasses shaped like pill bottles, a ‘Jewish star tee shirt, fake Navajo indian goods, stealing another’s jewelry design, selling a tee shirt in (as they called it) ‘Obama black’ (but it also came in white/charcoal), a shirt with a “salacious” picture of an upskirt shot of a 15-year old girl and a Monopoly-type game they called ‘Ghettopoly’, to name some.
Not that it matters when the almighty dollar is at stake, but UO is probably the least desireable chain business to have in Asheville. Their corporate culture seems to be based upon outrage, insults and consistenly bad taste. At a premium price, of course.
I don’t think removal is the solution here – just close the doors.
And I’m also confused as to why a Jewish star on a t-shirt is offensive? I completely understand and agree with your other examples.
This is a common practice of big brand stores in NYC. Walk down Broadway through SoHo and all the Urban Outfitters, H&Ms, Uniqlos, etc will have their doors wide open and the A/C on full blast inviting shoppers in to beat the heat
Regarding the Jewish star and the criticism, here is the essence of it copied from ‘This Week’ magazine:
“The Holocaust-evoking “Jewish Star” shirt”
Urban Outfitters put itself in the bad graces of Jewish groups in April 2012, after selling a T-shirt with a six-pointed star badge that, to some eyes, looks eerily like the Star of David patch Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany, leading up to and during the Holocaust. The $100 yellow T-shirt, from Danish designer Wood Wood, “represents a new low” for Urban Outfitters, said the Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia director, Barry Morrison. The symbolism is “extremely distasteful and offensive,” and the group is “outraged that your company would make this product available to your customers.”
And just a few days ago, a similar criticism has arisen:
“the Anti-Defamation League assailed Urban Outfitters for selling a gray and white striped tapestry emblazoned with pink triangles. The design, the ADL claimed, was ‘eerily reminiscent’ of the clothing Nazis forced gay prisoners to wear in concentration camps. ”
http://theweek.com/articles/480961/13-urban-outfitters-controversies
And now we have their pink triangle:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/urban-outfitters-slammed-item-resembling-holocaust-garb-n304341