Let me start off with the atmosphere. Before you enter the store, you can smell it from 100 yards away. As you approach the entrances, you will see that they look like night clubs. It's pitch black inside and the music is so loud that you can't even hear your own conscious asking why you are buying a pair of ripped up, poor quality jeans for 120 dollars. Lets be completely honest, their clothes suck. everything is ripped and frayed and nothing will last you more than a few months. All this would be fine if they wouldn't put their name in giant 3D block lettering all over the front of nearly every t shirt and sweat shirt. Hollister and Abercrombie turn every one of their buyers into a walking bill board as soon as they put on a shirt. It is simply a way for them to advertise to more people. These stores have established a hierarchy of "coolness" into the empire which relies around the concept that if you buy clothes from them, you will be cool. These stores do not want you to realize that their clothes are terrible over priced and that is why they turn the lights down so low. They blare the music so that no one will be able to think about what they are doing and make a rational decision.
Personally, I prefer stores that have no labels or store names plastered over the front of every shirt because your personality is what gives you identity. The idea that an article of clothing you buy can provide a status for you or that a brand name can give you identity is a lie that the empire has created to keep people replenishing the system.
Interesting observations about these stores, Graham. You know a lot about them for never having been inside. :) You're right to call out the walking billboard tendencies of these stores and the "coolness" empire they seek to create. So where do you buy your clothes? Are you looking for more than just quality and the absence of a logo?
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