investors got a jolt wednesday when american eagle outfitters announced the acquisition of quiet logistics an operator of automated distribution centers near city centers for 350 million it wasn’t a small deal the mallbased apparel retailer spent about 8 of its market cap on a distribution business quiet logistics wasn’t even american eagle’s first logistics buy the retailer bought airterra which focuses on middlemile logistics earlier in 2021 “middle mile” refers to delivery of products from a warehouse to a retail store