Gap To Consolidate in US, Expand Overseas

SAN FRANCISCO-Next year will see Gap’s brands consolidating its various stores and closing units strategically in the US, even as the international business grows, said Chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy at the 28th Annual Piper Jaffray Consumer Conference in New York City.

Over the next two months, the company will complete an assessment of its 40 million sf of US real estate and create a strategic plan around what Murphy dubbed the “Four R’s”: repositioning, relocating, remodeling and right-sizing. Many stores, he said, are too large, and separating some of Gap’s various brands, including Body and Kids into separate units is no longer strategically smart.

“Our fleet is older than we would like and not reflective of what the brands once were,” Murphy said. “And with 3,100 stores, we have not put in the time to create a strategy. Great retailers strategically define where they want to get to.”