Is Gap going out of business? It may be heartbreaking news for many that their favorite brand Gap will close its many stores in the U.S as the U.S. has already shut down several other stores, including Target, Orvis, Dillard, McDonald’s, and many more, that have been closed and are set to be closed in the future. Now the Gap is on a mission to do the same things with its particular stores located in various places such as Banana Republic locations.
Once, Gap said in the year 2020 that it would shut down around 30 percent of its Banana Republic and Gap retail stores at various places in North America by early 2024. It is painful to digest that the ultimate brands are going away!
Let’s read on to discover what is happening with Gap Inc., which stores are going out of Business this year, and how many Gap stores are still in the U.S. in 2023.
Why is Gap Going Out Of Business?
The gap is indeed going out of Business. In September 2022, the company announced closing of several Banana Republic stores.
According to Journals, it has been reported that Gap set to close its two Banana Republic stores at Birkdale Village in the Huntersville suburb.
Along with stores, the company has also closed its Banana Republic European e-commerce sites by May 2022; while closing its sites permanently, Gap Inc. posted, “Farewell for now,” also wrote, “This website is permanently closed.”
It may not be a big shock for shoppers because the Gap already shut down its numerous Banana Republic Stores in 2020 in North America. Besides, two Banana stores located in Midland, Texas, and another one in Winnipeg, Canada, were permanently discontinued last year in June.
According to recent reports, the company closed its Banana Republic stores in Colorado at the downtown Denver Pavilions Mall and closed on September 25th, 2022.
Why Is Gap Shuttering Its Doors?
Gap is shutting its doors this year, and the root cause for its closure was a huge drop in sales and profits. The company faced a lot of decline in its sales last year and was forced to decide to shut down many of the stores by 2023.
According to Gap’s executive chairman and the CEO of the company’s CEOortheales, the sales rose 10 percent to its original sales last year. Due to the closing of several Gap stores by 2023, the working staff also lost their jobs.
According to Gap Stores, “We’ve been overly reliant on low-productivity, high-rent stores.”
The company’s CEO also stated, “We’ve let our operating costs increase at a faster rate than our sales, and in turn, our profitability.”
The Gap Store was believed to have shut down its doors after its lease expired in 2023. The North American Properties revealed, “We are still negotiating with the brand; we anticipate taking its space and cannot share that information until the lease is fully executed.”
She also added that we plan to shut down the popular Banana Republic store in Chicago’s most famous central area. It will not shut down and remain open until its lease expires. But when the duration expires early in 2024, the doors will shut down permanently.
The Chicago’s second ward alderman, Brian Hopkins, said, “We were not surprised” He continues, “Their lease came up, and they said we are not going to renew. We are out of here.”
How Many Gap Stores Are Still In The U.S.?
The answer is Yes! Gap stores are still in the U.S., as experts have already mentioned that they have planned to open 30 to 40 Gap stores in the upcoming year after the closure of approx 350 stores in North America.
There are 416 Gap stores in the U.S., out of which around 58 retail stores are located in California, United States.
Let’s have a look to know how many Gap stores are still in the United States in 2023:
- California has 58 Gap retail stores
- New York has 49 Gap retail stores
- Florida has 24 Gap retail stores
- Pennsylvania has 20 Gap retail stores
- Georgia has 12 Gap retail stores
- North California has 12 Gap retail stores
- Texas has 31 Gap retail stores
- Massachusetts has 17 Gap retail stores
- Illinois has 12 Gap retail
What is Gap planning for 2023?
After the closure of numerous of its stores by the end of 2022 and early 2023, now it’s high time to announce that Gap has Power Plan for the upcoming year 2024, which says, The company closed the low-performing and less crowded Gap and Banana Republic Stores but from now on, we have focussed on opening the highly profitable retail stores such as Old Navy and Athleta Stores.
And now the Gap is on track with the execution of its plan. Additionally, the company expects the Athleta and Old Navy brands to provide 70 percent of sales this year, 2023.
Wrapping Up
Yes! There are indeed many stores that have closed by 2022, and some are also set to be closed in the year 2023. The company has also stated by the end of 2023 and early 2024, there will be 350 stores total in North America set to shut down their doors. According to reports, 220 Gap stores and 130 franchise Banana Republic stores will close.
It was believed that the Gap journey was not about to die with the closures of several stores in various U.S.
The company is planning to re-operate some stores that have been closed already a few years back.
As the company’s CEO Mark Breitbard said in a statement, “We’ve used the past six months to address the real estate issues and accelerate or shift to a true Omni-model.”
The company plans to remodel several closed stores in the future according to its customer preferences.
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