Urban Outfitters was riding a recession-proof wave of profitability, charging into a quarter that would log more big profits in May and deliver a massive mid-April payday for founder and billionaire shareholder Richard Hayne.
Hayne, 60, chairman of the board, was subdued amid the frenzy in his warship-factory-turned-office in South Philadelphia. In a lumberjack shirt and jeans, he coolly explained how his countercultural baby had become a Wall Street darling four decades after he opened his first store near the University of Pennsylvania.
"There's only one thing that ever really does it," Hayne said, in his barely audible voice, "and that's pleasing you - the consumer."
A sexy standout in the staid Philadelphia business scene, Urban Outfitters is the envy of the retail world - a company on the make in a city on the make. In five years its stock has outperformed the industry overall while sales have grown from $548 million to $1.5 billion last year.
Urban is on a hiring binge as others are firing, expanding while others are pulling back, enjoying architectural praise for a new headquarters at the Navy Yard, chasing Internet youth while others grieve for the olden days and ways.
Hayne, one of Philadelphia's self-made tycoons, has found the retail equivalent of the Fountain of Youth. The baby boomer has turned Generations X and Y into slavish shoppers by selling them "an experience" made by peers.
Hayne's philosophy: Young people are great customers. If you want them to like what you're selling, hire people just like them and give them power over what you sell.
Hayne and his executives believe youthful talent, unfettered creativity and business discipline - elements often at odds in corporate culture - can transform the business into a $10 billion behemoth.
