Mall retail giant closes stores, then admits business mistakes

The largest specialty apparel institution successful the U.S. has enjoyed occurrence since it launched arsenic a denim jeans retailer successful 1969.

Mid-1970s stone and rotation vigor commercials featured the palmy Gap concatenation that sold Levi's, vinyl records, and tapes (likely 8-track and cassettes) for young Americans.

My representation from that epoch was the apparel chain's vigor jingle, "Fall into The Gap."

The Gap aboriginal launched its sister specialty apparel chain, Old Navy, successful 1994, which was truthful fashionable that it was the archetypal retailer to deed $1 cardinal successful yearly income successful little than 4 years aft launching.

Old Navy is inactive doing well, but sometimes it needs to adjacent underperforming stores.

Old Navy closes Pennsylvania store

Retail elephantine The Gap Inc. volition permanently adjacent its Old Navy store successful the Logan Valley Mall successful Altoona, Pa., connected June 23, according to WTAJ-TV.

The retail concatenation did not springiness a circumstantial crushed for closing the store and did not uncover the fig of employees affected by the closing.

Customers tin inactive sojourn its nearest Old Navy store successful State College, Pa., the institution said successful a enactment posted extracurricular the store.

Queens store besides closes

The closing of the Altoona store comes 5 months aft The Gap closed its Old Navy store astatine 48th Street and Northern Boulevard successful Queens, N.Y., with a akin announcement connected Jan. 22, Queen's Gazette posted connected Facebook.

The retail concatenation besides did not authorities a crushed for closing the Queens store.

The Gap Inc. operates 3,477 store locations nether the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands successful 35 countries.

About 2,477 stores are company-operated units, with 1,241 Old Navy locations successful the portfolio, according to a Gap connection connected its net report.

Disappointing seasonal formal concern

While The Gap did not accidental wherefore it closed the Pennsylvania and New York Old Navy stores, the specialty apparel store concatenation said it began the twelvemonth with disappointing results from its seasonal women's formal business, contempt reporting a 1% summation successful comp income successful its 2026 archetypal quarter, during its net telephone connected May 28.

"Overall, results for Old Navy were chiefly impacted by the women's formal business, wherein reviewing the season, we did not execute arsenic effectively, and arsenic a result, customers did not respond to our assortment the mode we had intended," The Gap Inc. CEO Richard Dickson said successful the net call.

"Entering Q2, the seasonal women's formal concern continues to underperform our expectations, with weakness disposable crossed the broader seasonal merchandise assortment arsenic well," Dickson said.

Chain refocuses strategy

Old Navy refocused connected sharper terms points and stronger lawsuit messaging to crook astir the seasonal categories' performance, Dickson said. The institution saw immoderate betterment successful mid-May, is monitoring the progress, and continues to marque adjustments.