Well, we’ll always have somewhere to buy patterned leggings

Photo from Urban Outfitters online catalog

Tons of retail outlets teeter on the the edge of the econopocalypse these days as shoppers cut back on unnecessary expenses, and you’d think that Philly’s own Urban Outfitters, Inc., would be among them. I mean, they sell high-ish-priced items, generally involving ’90s-revival plaid, asymmetrical large-fonted words, birds, non-standard sleeve decisions or all of the above, that don’t really have a use beyond the buyer’s opinion that they look neat. Examples: a plush mustache.

This is not even touching on my issues with where they draw the ever-eroding line between “This is a shirt, it must be worn with pants” and “This is a dress, it may be worn with metallic tights.”

But anyway, URBN released last year’s sales numbers today, and they seem to be doing quite all right. Better than all right, in fact. While the average in-store sales numbers (across Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People) did drop 1% in the fourth quarter, it was more than made up for by online and catalog sales, which nudged total URBN sales to $1.8 billion, 22% up from the previous year.

                         Three months ended     Twelve months ended
                             January 31,             January 31,
                       ----------------------  ----------------------
                          2009        2008        2009        2008
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
                           (in thousands)          (in thousands)
 Urban Outfitters
  stores               $  213,435  $  196,625  $  771,362  $  628,328
 Anthropologie stores     172,098     165,853     642,161     561,990
 Free People stores         9,588       6,302      32,907      17,192
 Terrain                    1,165          --       5,656          --
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
    Net store sales       396,286     368,780   1,452,086   1,207,510
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
 Direct-to-consumer        87,810      72,920     272,472     205,742
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
    Retail segment net
     sales                484,096     441,700   1,724,558   1,413,252
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
 Wholesale                 23,982      23,711     110,060      94,472
                       ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------

    Total net sales    $  508,078  $  465,411  $1,834,618  $1,507,724
                       ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========

Looks like the impossibly pretty URBN HQ down at the Navy Yard is a pretty good place to be right now; I guess they’re not going to have to stop feeding the koi anytime soon.

But you still cannot purchase a $20 anti-war scarf/terrorist scarf. Old news, but still entertaining.

All the URBN numbers at yahoo biz