Old Navy will have to go it alone from now on.
Owners Gap Inc are closing 230 of their branded stores, roughly half of all their locations, and splitting Old Navy into a separate publicly traded company. Most of the closures will be in the U.S.
“Following a comprehensive review by the Gap Inc. board of directors, it’s clear that Old Navy’s business model and customers have increasingly diverged from our specialty brands over time, and each company now requires a different strategy to thrive moving forward,” Gap’s board chairman Robert Fisher said in a statement. “Recognizing that, we determined that pursuing a separation is the most compelling path forward for our brands.”
Among the Gap locations already slated for closure in Manhattan are the stores at 680 Fifth Avenue and 60 West 34th Street.
Old Navy has consistently outperformed sister companies Gap and Banana Republic, according to reporting from USA Today. Gap will continue as its own business, under the name New Co.
Neither Gap nor Old Navy performed well in the fourth quarter of 2018. Old Navy opened the year flat, while Gap saw a five percent drop during the end-of-year holiday season, according to USA Today. [USA Today] – Decca Muldowney