Urban Outfitters seems to be a prestigious name in retailing, but it wasn't until just a few days ago that I learned about Anthropologie. If you haven't heard, seen, or been in an Anthropologie retail store, you are missing an experience, I kid you not.



After returning from the store, I dug up some numbers that shocked me. Here's one that really left an impression: the average Anthropologie shopper spends 80 minutes in the store per trip. Eighty -- that's 1 hour, 20 minutes on each visit. Can you guess how much time the average shopper spends at other retailers? Fifteen minutes. That's an incredible figure that should describe a bit about the feel of the stores.

Anthropologie was founded to capitalize on patrons of the Urban Outfitters store who outgrew UA's fashions. As such, the target market for Anthropologie clothing is a 30 to 40'ish sophisticated woman with high discretionary income. Not a bad niche 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 crazy about the prices. Granted, they are steep, but for good 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 limited edition. Heck, they even have a good selection of one-of-a-kind items!

These items tend to fly off of the shelves, leaving oddball items scattered about, but that leads to an opportunity for shoppers: namely, sales racks. There are quite a few discounted items if you're not against searching, which I'm sure contributes to the long shopping visits.

What impresses me the most about Anthropologie clothes is the distinctive styling. Their clothes include a lot of flowery prints, laces, and delicate details, but look classy and sophisticated at the same time. The feeling that I get is that it's a clothing line for beautiful women who don't feel they need to reveal half of their bodies to look attractive. Home run, I'd say.

For anyone really looking for a bargain, you can find discount Anthropologie clothing online - not through the official store, but through other outlets. I can't imagine that this stuff is wholesale, and with the high turnover in clothing, I don't think it's made up of last season's items either, but the price is attractive!

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