After decades of providing outlet prices on brand-name clothing, the VF Outlet store in West Reading is closing. Clerks at the VF store were telling shoppers that all sales are final, as the store is closing Dec. 24.
Below: VF Outlet Store, West Reading, PA.
VF is closing sixty other stores nationwide. About twenty stores will be left open and transitioned into Lee/Wrangler Outlet and Clearance Centers.
Below: VF Outlet Store closings in Williamsburg, VA, Crossville Outlet Center, Crossville, TN, and Tupelo Outlet Mall, Tupelo, Mississippi.
VF, or Vanity Fair, opened the first multi-store outlet center in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1970. VF has a plethora of brands under its umbrella, including Lee, Wrangler, Nautica, Vanity Fair, Majestic, JanSport, Angels, Derek Heart, Timber Creek, Riders, Reef, Olga, Warner’s and others.
Vanity Fair’s roots began with The Reading Glove and Mitten Manufacturing Co. in 1899, which later evolved into Vanity Fair. VF acquired H.D. Lee Co. in 1969 and Blue Bell, which included Wrangler and Red Kap holdings in Tupelo, in 1986.
In August 2018, it was announced that VF would be splitting into two separate companies. The jeans and outlet stores would be spun off as Kontoor Brands. VF maintained the sports apparel and footwear businesses and moved its corporate headquarters to Denver, Colorado. Kontoor Brands Inc. became a separate company with the stock symbol KTB on May 23, 2019. Kontoor includes Lee, Wrangler, Rock & Republic and VF Outlets.
In December 2016, Equus Capital Partners Ltd of Philadelphia bought the former VF Outlet Center in Reading, PA, which included the Designers Place building. In November 2017, work began on a $70 million plan to transform the VF Outlet Center into a 34-acre mixed-use retail and business campus with UGI Energy Services as the anchor tenant.
In May 2018, VF Outlet relocated to the former Designers Place building.
Below: VF Sign Removal, Dec. 27, 2020, West Reading, PA.
