Anthropologie Clothes: Urban Outfitters for the Sophisticated Woman

Urban Outfitters seems to be a prestigious brand in retailing, but it wasn't until recently that I found out about Anthropologie. If you haven't heard, seen, or visited an Anthropologie store, you are missing an experience, I kid you not.

After visiting the store, I dug up some numbers that shocked me. Here's one that really left an impression: the typical Anthropologie customer spends 80 minutes in the store per trip. Eighty -- that's one and a third hours on each trip. Can you guess how much time the typical shopper spends at other retailers? Fifteen minutes. That's an amazing figure that should describe a bit about the feel of the stores.

Anthropologie was formed to profit from patrons of the Urban Outfitters brand who outgrew UA's fashions. As such, the target consumer for Anthropologie clothing is a 30 to 40'ish sophisticated woman with high discretionary income. Not a bad market to target!

Ask ten women what they think of Anthropologie and you'll probably hear . . . one opinion! Almost unanimously, people love the store, but aren't too fond of the prices. Granted, they are steep, but there's a reason. Anthropologie is very selective and exclusive with their clothing lines, and just about all of the clothing you find in a retail location is a limited edition run. Heck, they even have some one-of-a-kind items!

These items tend to sell out very quickly, leaving mismatched items here and there, but that leads to an opportunity for shoppers: namely, sales racks. There are quite a few sale items if you're not averse searching, which I'm sure is partly responsible the long shopping visits.

What I like most about Anthropologie clothes is the distinctive styling. Their fashions include a lot of floral prints, laces, and velvets, but look elegant and sexy at the same time. The impression that I get is that it's a clothing line for confident women who don't feel they need to reveal half of their bodies to look attractive. Touchdown, I think.

For anyone really looking for a bargain, you can find discount Anthropologie clothing online – not through the Anthropologie store, but through other retailers. I can't imagine that these items are wholesale, and with the high turnover in clothing, I would doubt it's made up of last season's items either, but the price is right!

Here's the bottom line: if you haven't yet shopped in an Anthropologie store, determine if there's one near you. It really is a great shopping experience. But beware of the prices!