Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

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storewanderer
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Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

Post by storewanderer »

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/ar ... 490808.php
This is not so good. That Flagship Gap pulled strong business. I wonder where their new Flagship store will be?

I also find the store they are keeping open in San Francisco on Chestnut Street a very peculiar choice. I suppose it is the smallest location and probably had the lowest rent. Also probably caters more to a local customer than a tourist.
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Re: Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

Post by buckguy »

GAP has been in decline for years and plans more store closings: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gap- ... SKBN23B36T
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Re: Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

Post by Alpha8472 »

Gap closed their store in Walnut Creek, California after it was looted. The city is filled with rich customers, but the company decided that they could not take the risk of any more lootings. The location was a high rent downtown location with no parking lot nearby. You had to walk quite far to a distant pay parking garage.
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Re: Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

Post by storewanderer »

buckguy wrote: August 18th, 2020, 6:37 am GAP has been in decline for years and plans more store closings: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gap- ... SKBN23B36T
Yes but this is their flagship store in their HQ city... a little different than closing a store in some random location...
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Re: Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

Post by Alpha8472 »

Gap has not been paying rent at many locations. Simon Property Group which runs various malls has sued Gap.

Gap has continued to pay benefits for workers whose stores are still closed. I can see that Gap wants to close as many stores as it can. Is the company in such a financial mess that they cannot pay rent or are they just unwilling to pay millions in rent and thinking that Simon would never kick Gap out of their malls?
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Re: Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

Post by buckguy »

storewanderer wrote: August 18th, 2020, 10:20 pm
buckguy wrote: August 18th, 2020, 6:37 am GAP has been in decline for years and plans more store closings: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gap- ... SKBN23B36T
Yes but this is their flagship store in their HQ city... a little different than closing a store in some random location...
In the context of planning more closings, it is probably a harbinger of other large stores dependent on tourists, like Herald Square in NYC, rather than a big deal by itself. GAP's willingness not to pay rent to Simon which owns relatively healthy malls is really a bad sign. If they were stiffing Simon's affiliate, Glimcher (the successor to the company they set-up to own their B-grade malls), it would be a different matter.
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Re: Gap closes 3 San Francisco Stores including flagship

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: August 17th, 2020, 11:15 pm https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/ar ... 490808.php
This is not so good. That Flagship Gap pulled strong business. I wonder where their new Flagship store will be?

I also find the store they are keeping open in San Francisco on Chestnut Street a very peculiar choice. I suppose it is the smallest location and probably had the lowest rent. Also probably caters more to a local customer than a tourist.
You are right. Fewer tourists, more locals. The Marina district is full of customers who meet the target Gap demographic. Every time I've shopped there the store is busy and customers are buying things, regardless the time of day. The flagship store was always busy with people browsing, but they were not buying. Why buy khakis at the flagship and lug them home when you can order online and have them delivered?
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