By this time next month, passersby on Fifth Avenue might notice the absence of another one of the famed street’s retail mainstays. Gap is set to shut down its three-level store at 680 Fifth Ave. on Jan. 20, a company spokesperson told FN.
It will follow the closings of Lord & Taylor on 39th Street and Henri Bendel on 56th Street, both in early 2019, as well as Polo Ralph Lauren on 55th Street last April — becoming the latest casualty of the selling wave in one of New York’s prime shopping locations.
Once Gap’s flagship, the location has resided in the Buchmann family-owned building since 1997. The move comes a month after the clothing and accessories business said it was considering shuttering hundreds of its namesake locations “thoughtfully and aggressively” to focus on better-performing stores. (The retailer’s current flagship is located at Times Square.)
“There are hundreds of other stores that likely don’t fit our vision for the future of Gap brand specialty store, whether in terms of profitability, customer experience, traffic trends,” CEO Art Peck remarked during Gap’s third-quarter earnings call. “The range from the very best to the very worst stores is extremely broad.”
In its latest fiscal report, released late November, the company saw a continued slump in revenues, with Gap’s same-store sales dropping 7 percent, while its Old Navy and Banana Republic banners recorded positive numbers. (The retailer has 775 Gap-branded stores around the world.)
As of 3:30 p.m. E.T., Gap Inc. shares were up more than 3 percent.
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