Banana Republic, GapKids to Open in Mall
by February 5, 2001 12:00 am 54 views
Two new stores, both owned by Gap Inc., are scheduled to open in Fayetteville’s Northwest Arkansas Mall by early summer.
“We are expecting imminent construction to begin on Banana Republic and GapKids,” said Lisa Skiles, the mall manager. “Leasing negotiations are in the final stages.”
Banana Republic is Gap Inc.’s upscale, 389-store clothing chain. GapKids sells clothing for children.
Skiles said Banana Republic will occupy 6,500 SF of space previously leased by Lane Bryant, a women’s clothing store, and holiday gift wrapping. Lane Bryant will be moved to a temporary location in the south wing of the mall near Sears and relocated to a permanent spot later.
GapKids will occupy about 4,700 SF of space that previously housed Calendar Club, a holiday calendar shop, and before that Northern Reflections, a clothing store that left the mall last fall.
Skiles said Gap Inc.’s confidence in the mall was fueled by impressive sales at the Gap store it opened there in 1997.
Based in San Francisco, Gap Inc. also operates stores called Old Navy and BabyGap.
In the fiscal year that ended Jan. 30, 2000, Gap Inc. had 3,018 clothing stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Japan. Gap Inc. had sales that year totaling $11.6 billion (up from $9 billion the previous year) and net earnings of $1.1 billion (up from $824 million).
For the nine-month period ending Oct. 28, Gap Inc. had $9 billion in sales (compared witho $7.8 billion for the comparable nine-month period of the previous year).
As of Oct. 28, Gap Inc. had 3,542 stores, compared with 2,879 as of Oct. 30, 1999. On Oct. 28, Gap Inc. had 389 Banana Republic stores open, compared with 329 in 1999.
Gap Inc. doesn’t list separate statistics for its GapKids stores, which are included as part of its Gap domestic division in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.