US fashion label Henri Bendel to close after 123 years

Upscale US fashion label Henri Bendel - known in recent years for its luxury handbags and shoes - will shut down in January after 123 years in business, parent company L Brands has announced. The Bendel website and all of the label's 23 stores in the United States, including the flagship location on New York's Fifth Avenue, will remain open through the holiday shopping season, L Brands said in a statement.
But from the start of 2019, the parent company said it will put its focus on the group's more profitable labels. The closing of the Bendel stores, whose well-heeled customers could be easily spotted in Manhattan thanks to the label's chic brown and white-striped packaging, marks the end of a fashion journey begun in 1895. That year, Louisiana-born designer Henri Bendel, originally a hatmaker, opened his first shop in New York's Greenwich Village.