Gap's Old Navy store in downtown San Francisco set to close
The longtime Old Navy store at 801 Market St. in downtown San Francisco will close this summer, a Gap Inc. spokesperson wrote in a statement on Friday.
The closure is scheduled to take effect July 1. It’s the latest San Francisco retailer to announce its departure, joining a list of businesses that includes Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off 5th, Anthropologie, Coco Republic and grocery chain Whole Foods.
In a statement, the spokesperson for Gap — which is headquartered in San Francisco, and owns a number of subsidiary retailers, including Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta — noted that the company is looking at potential new landing spots for another Old Navy in the downtown area, reiterating that “Gap Inc. has deep roots in San Francisco and is committed to the city.”
“Old Navy is always evaluating its real estate portfolio to ensure a healthy fleet of stores that can provide the best possible experience for our customers,” the spokesperson wrote.
“Since our Market Street store opened in the 1990s, the way we leverage flagship locations has changed. As a result, we have taken the difficult decision to close our Market Street store when the lease expires, and we are already working to identify new locations in downtown San Francisco that will better serve the needs of the business and our customers.”
The Old Navy closure announcement comes a month after Gap disclosed layoffs primarily affecting its corporate workers; the layoffs impacted about 800 employees in the state of California.
“We are taking the necessary actions to reshape Gap Inc. for the future — simplifying and optimizing our operating model, elevating creativity, and driving better delivery in every dimension of the customer experience,” interim CEO Bob Martin said in a statement provided to SFGATE at the time.
Last month, Gap’s Banana Republic at the nearby Westfield mall also closed, though a spokesperson said that the closure was part of a 2020 companywide plan and is unrelated to issues raised by some local San Francisco businesses about lack of foot traffic and unsafe conditions in the downtown area.
Source: SFGATE
