Hi all,
I was at the Mall the other day (it was business) (normally don’t go there) but stopped by the “Hollister Store” there. Made me think of the old Panama Jack/ OP (Ocean Pacific) days in the early 80s … but that got me thinking about … there use to be this one store in the mall that was a kind of clothing store that had a Safari like motif … for the life of me I cannot remember the name of that store, but they were around for years … maybe till the early 90s (I think they got started in the mid or late 70s. Apparently they are now defunct. But I can’t remember the name.
(Defunct because there’s absolutely no sign of their existence. Think Pier One Imports ,… but as a Clothing Store, that’s what it was like … think Safari. Anyone remember anything like that?
BTW … Hollister is overpriced junk in my opinion. 
I don’t know what you had in mind, but if you were asking about a safari at midnight motif, I’d have immediately thought of Hollister.
Banana Republic?
Yes! Marienee! thank you 
Banana Republic is far from defunct. They’ve got ads in the spring fashion mags and a big store in the middle of our big mall.
Banana Republic is nothing like it used to be. As noted, the stores, clothing and catalogs had a heavy jungle/expedition vibe that is barely hinted at today.
I would say defunct in regard to their original look and feel. Way back when they had jeeps and palm trees at their entries, and carried clothing from interesting places. I could get Gurkha shorts there, and light weight linen waiters’ jackets from the Philippines, and others clothing that didn’t look like everything else at the mall. Then GAP bought them and turned them into GAP light, where they became indistinguishable from every other J Crew/LLBean-type joint. Bah!
And don’t get me started on Eddie Bauer.
On preview: What blondebear said.
I remember the days when Banana Republic had good, interesting, unique merchandise. I collected their catalogs, because I loved the artwork and the copy.
Turns out, they were inspired by J. Peterman, which doesn’t have quite the same safari/expedition bend, but does the same artwork/copy combo.
I miss the old Banana Republic a lot. They used to have really cool stuff–the kind of tomboy clothes I love, and lots of neat accessories. I had a leather passport case from them that I used as a wallet until it fell apart, because I could never find another one like it, and I still have my Israeli paratrooper briefcase someplace in storage. Their catalog was indeed cool. I was very bummed when they switched over to becoming yet another generic mall store.