Gap to close 75 Banana Republic, Old Navy stores

The Banana Republic flagship store in London.

(Image credit: Cate Gillon/Getty Images)

last updated 20 May 2016

With sales down, Gap announced Thursday it will close 75 stores in its Old Navy and Banana Republic brands.

Most of the stores slated to be shuttered are overseas, including every Old Navy store in Japan. In a conference call with investors, Gap chief executive Art Peck said he's "obviously disappointed that we're going to be discontinuing operations," but it's a "sign of a good company that you acknowledge when a business isn't going to deliver."

Worldwide, there are more than 1,000 Old Navy stores and 679 Banana Republic outposts. The company expects to save roughly $275 million a year by closing stores and streamlining its operating model, The Washington Post reports, and is now focusing on expanding Old Navy in Mexico and China. For the first quarter, Gap says net sales were down 6 percent to $3.44 billion and profits were $127 million, falling 46.9 percent.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.