Frederick's of Hollywood shuts down its stores, goes online only

A model at the Frederick&#039;s of Hollywood fashion show.

(Image credit: Mark Mainz/Getty Images)

published 16 April 2015

It’s the end of an era for lingerie: On its website, Frederick's of Hollywood announced that all of its brick and mortar locations have been closed.

If you still need to get your fix of crotchless underwear and see-through body stockings, it's not all bad news, as the brand will still operate its website. The news doesn't completely shock retail experts like Ron Friedman, who told the Los Angeles Times, "As a company, I think they became old and stale. Victoria's Secret has been a home run compared to them." Friedman does think the retailer can be profitable online, as long as they use social media and marketing to their advantage. "An online business is nothing more than another retail store without fixed rent," he said. "They have to really focus and hire people that really understand the online business."

The company was started by Frederick Mellinger in New York after World War II, and changed its name to Frederick's of Hollywood when Mellinger moved to Los Angeles in 1947. Items were originally only available for purchase through a catalog, until stores were opened in the 1960s. The company declared bankruptcy in 2000 but came out of it in 2003, before going public in 2006. As of 2014, there were 94 Frederick's of Hollywood stores in malls across America.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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