Gap to close 200 US stores as it expands in foreign markets

[Javaman]

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/13/3979055/gap-to-close-200-us-stores-as.html

LOS ANGELES -- Long-struggling Gap Inc. is closing nearly 200 stores and downsizing others in the U.S. as it focuses on international expansion, the San Francisco company said Thursday.

The apparel giant - parent to the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy chains - plans to reduce the number of Gap brand stores in North America to 700 by the end of 2013, a 21 percent decrease from the 889 that it operated at the end of July.

A Gap Inc. spokeswoman said the company wouldn't reveal which stores would close.

"We've been in some malls for a really long time; in some instances the demographics may have changed, so it may not make sense for a Gap brand store to be there anymore," spokeswoman Louise Callagy said. "The goal overall is to return the brand to health, and part of a healthy brand is a high-performing fleet" of stores.

More at link...

[Selatius]

1. Their clothes are made in China and Singapore but are expensive here.

Maybe if people still had high paying union jobs at American textile factories and manufacturing plants, they could buy more of their product. Nope. They shipped all that capacity to some military dictatorship for pennies on the dollar, while all those "obsolete" workers are picking up service sector jobs that pay shit wages like Wal-Mart.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Corporate vampires...

Well, they've sucked the blood out of America. There's nothing left but drained bodies. Time
to move onto where there's fresh blood.

I wonder if these emerging economies, such as China, are using the same debt-inducing tactics
that were used on us? We were offered a buffet of easy credit by the banks. What a deal--the
corporations benefited by making money off of all of the stuff we purchased--that we couldn't
afford--and of course the banks made a killing, as we paid 20 percent interest on those purchases.

If you want to suck the life out of consumers--you must have the stores and the goods--but you
must also have credit/banking devices that guarantees optimal economic bloodletting.

[fredamae]

3. Hey GAP-Don't let the door hit you in the Ass

Now, Lets get some local folks in the industry to start doing our own, lets fire up those Boarded up factories......
I would love to see cotton grown, fabric mfg and clothes once again MADE IN USA!