In which city did the first Hollister Co. store open?

The first Hollister Co. store opened in Columbus, Ohio. It began operations on July 27, 2000, at Easton Town Center, launching Abercrombie & Fitch’s new teen-oriented lifestyle brand.

Columbus was significant because Abercrombie & Fitch was headquartered in Ohio and developed the Hollister concept there. The company used the initial location and four subsequent test stores to evaluate the brand before expanding more widely.

The store’s design helped establish Hollister’s identity. Early locations were built to resemble vintage California beach shacks, with a boardwalk-style entrance, shutters, dark wood tones, and a deliberately coastal atmosphere inside shopping malls.

New York is sometimes confused with the answer because Hollister later opened a major flagship in SoHo. That store opened in 2009, years after the original Columbus location. San Diego and Los Angeles fit the brand’s Southern California imagery, but neither hosted the first Hollister store.

The Columbus opening also highlights the difference between the brand’s fictional California backstory and its actual corporate origin in Ohio.