This is somewhat a continuation of Cathy’s, “Ambercrombie & What the Fitch” blog post from a few days ago. If you have no idea what we are talking about here, go read her post first.
We, as well as some friends got the same response as Paul did. There are three emails in all. Here is Mr. Dale Bills’ response along with two more e-mails for clarification reasons.
Dear Michael and Cathy,
Thank you for sharing your concerns about this retailer.
Please keep in mind that the list of City Creek stores reported by the Deseret News was generated by the newspaper’s own research. It is incomplete and unconfirmed.
Our retail partner, Taubman Centers, Inc., has announced 20 stores for City Creek Center and will soon be announcing more in anticipation of grand opening on March 22. I can assure you that Abercrombie & Fitch will not be one of the stores included in Taubman’s announcement.
Sincerely,
Dale K. Bills
Director, Communications & Marketing
City Creek Reserve, Inc.
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Mr. Bills,
Thank you for your response. We are unclear whether Ambercrombie and Fitch will definitely not be included as a retailer in the City Creek Mall. Will you please clarify for us? Are you saying that the announcement on March 22 will not include Ambercrombie and Fitch, or that Abercrombie & Fitch will not be a retailer in the mall at all? Thank you again for your quick response and attention to our concerns.
Please clarify
Michael and Cathy Barker
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Dear Michael and Cathy,
Abercrombie & Fitch will not be among the stores Taubman will soon announce because this retailer will not be a part of City Creek Center. The announcement of more stores coming to City Creek is expected soon, sometime in advance of City Creek Center’s grand opening which will be on March 22.
I hope that makes things clear.
Dale Bills
From: cathy barker [mailto:oregonortho@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 11:16 AM
To: Dale Bills
Subject: RE: Your email regarding Abercrombie & Fitch at City Creek Center
After that last e-mail we decided to contact the two journalists responsible for the article. READ ON:
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Mr. Schwarz & Lee,
I am writing in regards to your February 25th Deseret News article. I was very concerned to see Ambercrombie and Fitch (A&F) listed as one of the retailers that would be at City Creek. A&F has a long, well known history of hyper-sexualized advertising and clothing for teens. This concern led to e-mails from friends and me to Dale Bills, Director of Communications and Advertising for City Creek.
He responded via e-mail that A&F would not be a retailer at City Creek. Furthermore he said, “Please keep in mind that the list of City Creek stores reported by the Deseret News was generated by the newspaper’s own research. It is incomplete and unconfirmed.”
My question to you two is, was the information on Abercrombie & Fitch speculation on your part or did someone provide you with their name as a tenant? From whom did you gather your information? Was it Lisa Wardell? If it was, was she wrong, or is Mr. Bills trying to clean up the situation after receiving pushback? I don’t like asking my friends to take action on something that turns out to be unfounded, so I would like to know if I need to view Deseret News stories with a more skeptical eye or if I’m being misled by City Creek.
Michael Barker
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Re: Who’s Coming to City Creek
Thanks for your interest in the story. The information was gathered by searching building permits filed by stores with Salt Lake City. All the information is public record. A commercial building permit was filed October 5, 2011 for a project named “Abercrombie & Fitch @ City Creek” and the record number BLD2011-06395. City Creek Center has said it will not release a complete list of stores until March, so the information we have reported is stores that have filed for these permits.
Thanks,
Hunter Schwarz
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Does filing a permit necessarily mean that the retailer will be at City Creek?
mike barker
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Not necessarily. Because City Creek Center won’t release a full listing of stores and many stores seem to be tight lipped over new store openings as well, we’ll have to wait until they announce it to confirm.
HMMMMM. SOMETHING SMELLS FISHY!
I would be curious to hear a response from Deseret News because it would appear that either the mall is trying to cover their butts fast or it’s a case of pretty irresponsible journalism.
Josh,
I am presently composing a letter to the two Deseret News journalist that wrote the article in question. The article sights and quotes a certain Linda Wardell a few times. So my question to the journalists is, “Did Ms. Wardell give you the information, or is Mr. Bills throwing you two under the bus?”