LAT: Sales at Gap Continue Downward Trend

Sales at Gap Continue Downward Trend
The 5% drop in October marks 12 straight months of disappointing results from the retailer.
By Leslie Earnest, Times Staff Writer


Three years after former Disney executive Paul Pressler took charge at Gap Inc., the nation's largest specialty apparel retailer is once again stuck in a sales slump.

The San Francisco-based company reported Thursday that sales at stores open at least a year fell 5% in October, marking 12 straight months of flat or negative same-store sales.

Gap's numbers looked particularly gloomy as other chain stores across the country posted better-than-expected sales last month and some of its fiercest competitors delivered strong results — notably Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and American Eagle Outfitters Inc., which posted increases of 31% and 17.3%, respectively.

Gap's same-store sales, a key measure of growth, could fall 10% for the year, which would translate to about $900 million in lost sales, analyst Jeffrey Klinefelter of Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis estimated.

With the stock down 19% year to date, analysts — and investors — are getting testy....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gap4nov04,0,7154762.story?coll=la-home-business

They're all owned by the same company (I think).

company. From the article:

"Even as the company, parent of more than 3,000 Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores, is missing the mark, some of its competitors are hitting bull's-eyes, analysts say."

It could be me, but I did see a reference in the article to customers complaining about the fit of the clothes. Makes me feel better -- although admittedly, I still need to shape up.

You can try on 3 of the same style & size of pants, and they will all fit differently. This is why I don't bother with this store - too aggravating.

is made rapidly and cheaply... and I don't mean inexpensively, I mean cheap. ie it's garbage, and is okay for, say, T-shirts, but nothing else will fit correctly, because of the patterns they use and how it's done.

upcale department stores. I (and many of my friends when we were younger) use to sew a lot of our own clothes, and have a keen eye for fabrics, seams, buttons, and over-all quality of clothing. And I've found it absolutely glaring as I walk through most retail stores the last few months (at least this Summer's clothes, and a lot of this Winter's clothes)...that MOST of the clothing looks like it was made in (and I don't mean this disparagingly)...in Rumania. The colors, and fabrics, and trim look so cheap and gaudy. There are of course a few exceptions amont a handful of High-Scale clothiers...such as Lauren, and Jones N.Y.

But I don't EVER remember seeing such univerally low quality crap at high prices in main stream stores. Sure, there have always beeen those stores that cater specifically to the early-20's demographics...selling expendible, cheap clothing that lasts as long as the fashion "attention span" of the persons buying the clothes. But among mainstream, upscale stores, I've never seen such high-priced crap literally across-the-boards to average age adults.

I think it's a reflection of the outsourcing of everything to Third World Countries (twice-removed)...so that the people now sewing these things don't even have ANY prior experience at what they're doing. When I go to the mall now, it feels like I'm shopping in New Delhi daily.

Suddenly I value even the older things in my clothes closet. I will hesitate twice before donating to Goodwill now...as MY older stuff is infinitely better made that most of what I see in the stores now. And MINE is already paid for, and will last years before fraying at the seam, thank you!

He thinks it went downhill after NAFTA, but has gotten even worse with the move to China. I agree....

They didn't fit at all...worse than any shirts I've ever bought anywhere. Am glad to see others are having the same problem. Makes me not feel quite so oddly shaped. And they were really good colors, too.

I reserve my Old Navy purchases to things like sweaters or sweatshirts, pjs, etc. I do like their pants, but the fit is all over the place on them. They're really just cheap, cheap, clothes, with little care put into fit. The Gap, boring as I find them, usually has good fit. J. Crew has great fit as well.. but I just can't see spending 70+ on a pair of jeans. I stick with my Levi 501, which fit a woman's body very nicely...

they are in the process of clear cutting the forests of California.

Maybe if the Gap wasn't supporting destroying the environment, more people would support them.

Environmental groups should start loudly promoting that a boycott is hurting the bottom line and that the best way back to profits is by stopping their attacks on the environment.

and the others are probably getting wary of them now that the CC companies can effectivel take your house if you lose your job and cannot pay them..

It's no longer "unsecured" debt.. It's secured bigtime, buy everything you have..

this is a surprise in what way?

'"in".

Gap got boring and middle aged. Unfortunately the money goes toward the carictured fashion of those other stores... teens don't want quality jeans or khakis, they want tight low cut jeans, t-shirts with goofy sayings, and skimpy cheap quality tops at inflated prices. Gap sunk into a boring uniform style, and people were perhaps not willing to pay 40 dollars for a basic polo shirt and 70 for pants.

cheesy stores, when they should have stuck to what they do best. Simple, basic fashions that fit all kinds of bodies and ages. It was always my first stop when I just wanted some plain black pants or a basic t-shirt for layering.

Now everything is so trendy and cheap looking they have lost their core market and are instead trying to attract fickle teenagers with dwindling spending power.

Most people I know don't go in there because no one wants to pay 70 dollars for a pair of basic black pants, or a white shirt. We all just go to the department stores for the basic stuff, because it's all made in china anyway and it's half the price. I just never found anything fashionable in there.. just more uniform type clothes.

The few basics they have now don't it well for my body.

Gap really lost it when they thought it was some sort of great ad strategy to pay a bunch of "celebs" to wear their jeans and a white shirt. Yawn. They lost footing with that boring and never-ending campaign. The Gap windows featured giant photos of "celebs" in jeans and plain shirts, their ads.. the same. When customers are looking for fashion and things that set them apart, they were greeted with jeans and white shirts. This went on too long. Gap, for some reason, just lost touch with the people they needed to reach. They allowed A&F, and AEO, and J.Crew, to move past them. Gap became stale. Each time I went into their store it was dullsville. They need an infusion of style. Gap needs to get past the dull unisex vibe they've been stuck in.

other US union shops and market themselves--MADE IN THE USA!! Easy, patriotic and popular to adults.

American Apparel is not union. In fact, it actively tries to bust the union any time the workers try to organize.

Also, 70% of No Sweat's stuff is made outside the U.S.

In any case, neither company is a good example for what you're advocating.

Honestly, everything in Gap is boring and overpriced to me. And there's nothing there that I couldn't get somewhere else. They have no "hook", nothing to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Their clothes never fit me right, either. The pants all fit me really funky. Same with Old Navy (Banana Republic isn't around here) - their pants don't fit me well at all. I have gotten a few ON shirts, though, just the basic t-shirts.

The Gap stores were BIG Schwarzenegger donors.

I will not be sorry to see them go.

and it seems to be working very nicely:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1901738



They pulled the campaign, but got all the publicity and notoriety they could have wanted.

The Gap, on the other hand, comes off as totally milquetoast.