Avenue 32 closes, no news on Benteler's next move

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 17, 2017

Luxury UK e-tail site Avenue 32 has closed down after several months of rumours that it was in danger of closure. The site is currently showing a message saying: “GOODBYE...After 6 wonderful years, we have decided to focus on new projects and so, sadly, Avenue32.com is now closed. Thank you for being such loyal customers.”

The message also says that orders placed before August 11 will be processed as normal and the returns period remains at 15 days from receiving the order.

The company had earlier been reported to have cancelled orders for the autumn/winter 2017 season and would not be placing orders for next spring, which made closure a 99% certainty.

That order cancellation followed news in June that it was up for sale after a strategic review. At the same time, the company had ceased its press office operations.

Just like ‘affordable luxury’ e-tailer My-Wardrobe, Avenue 32 had suffered as luxury e-tail rivals such as Net-a-Porter, Matchesfashion and Farfetch went from strength to strength. Importantly, those rivals had much more investment cash to improve their tech offer that is so important for e-tailers at all price levels these days.

Avenue 32 had been found by the then-26-year-old Roberta Benteler back in 2011 as a site that enabled emerging designer names to sell their collections online. As it developed, it built its designer roster up to 150 labels and Benteler became an Instagram influencer in the process.

She hasn’t commented directly on the closure and it is unclear what her next move will be.