Urban Outfitters will open three stores in a new format designed to appeal to Gen Z shoppers by the end of 2025, with an additional seven stores planned for 2026. The first store featuring the brighter, more modern design debuted in Houston, followed by the opening of the Glendale, Calif. location. In December the retailer will open a third store, in Bethesda, Md.
Each store will feature assortments designed to appeal to local tastes, guided by customer insights. The Houston store’s assortment features dresses, denim and an accessories edit tapping Gen Z’s love of personalization with handbags, scarves, charms, bangles and more. In Glendale, an expanded men’s assortment features graphic T-shirts, hoodies, pants and wardrobe essentials.
The stores have been designed with new modular and responsive fixtures that can scale to a category’s requirements and allow the space to quickly evolve its merchandising to match trends and seasonal shifts. Fitting rooms feature a brighter, more spacious design, and warm materials, rich textures and increased visual styling throughout the stores create a more immersive shopping environment.
“Our goal is to be the go-to brand and destination for the categories and brands that define our customer’s style, and a source of inspiration through our creativity,” said Shea Jensen, President of Urban Outfitters in a statement. “This new format gives us the freedom to shape our stores around our customers, their lifestyle and the moments that matter most to them.”
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Indulging Gen Z’s Taste for Mall Shopping
The store locations also are designed to appeal to Gen Z, particularly the mall-based Glendale store. The retailer has used insights from UO Insiders, its community of highly engaged Gen Z shoppers, which indicate that 72% of Gen Z consumers are shopping in malls, making it the most popular in-person shopping destination among this age group.
Urban Outfitters has been stressing its Gen Z appeal in several ways. In May 2025 it launched UO Haul, a multi-stage gamified campaign designed to support students decorating dorm rooms. As part of the campaign, Urban Outfitters and HGTV kicked off a Dream Dorm Makeover Contest in July 2025.
Additionally, the retailer has been experimenting with in-store activations, such as the shop-in-shops of its On Rotation program, which kicked off with a Nike collaboration in May 2025 and one with Levi’s in August 2025.
