Gap Inc. will close its flagship store permanently near Union Square as the coronavirus pandemic and longer retail outlets strike in the heart of the business city of San Francisco.
The company has also closed two other Gap stores in the city – at Embarcadero Center near its waterfront headquarters and Stonestown Galleria – for good.
That leaves Chestnut Street’s location as the only Gap store operating in San Francisco. The flagship of the company Old Navy on Market Street, multiple locations of Banana Republic and Athleta, such as Intermix on Fillmore, remain open.
“Although these stores were initially closed as a result of city mandates, these permanent closures are part of the larger strategy we announced last year to change our fleet based on customers’ store patterns and store profitability,” Gap said in a statement. email to The Chronicle. “As with any store closure, we encourage employees to find opportunities at other locations in our family connection.”
In April, Gap said it was stopping paying wages for North American stores that were closed due to coronavirus orders, and that it was actively negotiating lease terms. Weeks later, the predominantly shopping center-based store was filed by two of its largest landlords, Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties, for not paying millions in rent.
In July, Gap Inc., including its subsidiaries Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta, and Janie and Jack, captured the mall’s landlords and said that, even if government restrictions are easy, the pandemic will continue to spread and be harmful. and has resulted in “serious and irreparable difficulties” for the company that were not to blame when the leases were signed.
The retail industry had many pre-pandemic problems, with fewer people visiting shopping malls and an abundance of online competition, but since March the sector has been facing a devastating crisis as shops close and reopen and re-close, and customers cut back on spending amid rising unemployment.
Retail bankruptcies have mounted, with Stein Mart, a 112-year-old discount retailer, and Lord & Taylor, considered the oldest department store in the country, filing for bankruptcy protection this month.
The collapse of Gap’s three-story flagship – located in the historic Flood Building, dating to 1904 – adds to the list of permanent closures in and around Union Square, including Warby Parker, Brooks Brothers, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Vilebriquin and Agent Provocateur, among others.
Shwanika Narayan is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter, Instagram: @shwanika
