News and Events
All the Right Moves
Chain retailers often feel pressured to open new stores, but they should pay close attention to their site selection strategies.
Oct 28, 2008 Retail Traffic Elaine Misonzhnik
Apparel giant Gap Inc.'s decision this summer to close some stores and downsize others was no surprise to retail analysts. After all, San Francisco-based Gap has reported losses for 15 straight quarters and is frequently mentioned as a possible bankruptcy candidate. Most industry observers attribute the chain's decline to poor merchandising decisions and the departure of retail legend and former president and COO Mickey Drexler in May 2002.
But it turns out Gap's decline was not solely due to poorly thought-out inventory choices. During the company's second quarter conference call on Aug. 21, chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy dropped the bombshell that for all these years, the retailer was not employing a coherent plan for its 3,100-store fleet.