Oh no! Benetton South Beach has Closed on Collins!

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What in the world happened to Benetton South Beach?! In fact, what happened to Benetton in Florida?! The Italian retailer crept out of the state right under our noses. In fact, it doesn't even have Florida listed in its store locator category anymore.

But why did Benetton close up shop, just one year after the store underwent hefty renovations? According to a brand rep for the Italian brand, "The closing of the Miami store is part of a wider reset of our global retail network, which has included new openings of the brand-new On Canvas United Colors of Benetton retail format in Italy, Spain and Russia over the last few months."

Basically, the South Beach location is a casualty in the brand's three year restructuring plan, which they announced in November of 2013. According to an article on WWD back in February, they plan on exiting 60 country's all together and plan to "further grow [their] United Colors of Benetton and Sisley brands and to divest its other labels, including Jean's West, Killer Loop, Anthology of Cottons and Playlife, by the end of the year." Currently the store only has seven locations in the U.S. including New Jersey, Texas, California, Washington DC, New York which is a huge downsize from the amount of stores the brand used to have in the U.S.

So there you have it folks, South Beach isn't in the stars for Benetton, and now all we're left with is a Ricky's NYC Halloween store, for now.
· Benetton Group Sets Three Year Restructuring [WWD]
· Benetton To Trim Workforce [WWD]