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 After 123 years in business, Henri Bendel will be closing its doors in Jan. 2019. Parent company L Brands announced Thursday it's closing Bendel's website and all of its 23 stores, including the store's iconic Fifth Avenue location in New York, in January 2019 because of sluggish sales. As part of that effort, we have decided to stop operating Bendel to improve company profitability and focus on our larger brands that have greater growth potential,” Leslie Wexner, chairman and chief executive officer of L Brands, said in a statement to PEOPLE. Bendel was an early pioneer in the American fashion industry as the first luxury retailer to open an “upper Fifth Avenue address” and the first to stage a fashion show, according to its website. The store was founded by French-speaking American designer Henri Willis Bendel in 1895 as a millinery shop in Greenwich Village before relocating to the corner of 5th Avenue and 57th Street in 1912.
– Shop on Fifth Avenue? Neither do we, but still: The iconic Henri Bendel department store will soon be gone along with its e-commerce business and 22 other brick-and-mortar locations, People reports. Parent company L Brands is making the move amid increasing retail competition and plummeting company stocks, which fell 55% this year, per CNN Money. A pioneer in US fashion and luxury retail, Bendel has been in business for 123 years and held the country's first fashion show, its website says. The store plans to close in January.