A ‘reinvented’ Gap re-enters the British high street
Gap Inc’s namesake brand, Gap, recently celebrated the opening of the very first Gap-branded shop-in-shop within British multinational retailer Next’s prime 120 Oxford Street, London, location.
The development represents the first major milestone in the two companies’ joint venture journey, first announced in September 2021. Its intention is to more effectively grow the Gap business in the UK and Ireland with the support of a strong local partner, the San Francisco-headquartered firm said. Gap closed 86 European stores, alone, last year.
Managing director of international, global licensing and wholesale at Gap Inc, Adrienne Gernand, elaborated on the purpose of the joint venture: “Partnering with market-leading, omnichannel retailers like Next allows us to amplify and deliver our relevant, purpose-driven brand to meet our customers in the UK and Ireland - and with greater speed, agility and customer services than ever before.”
The just over 300-square-metre retail Oxford Street space, officially unveiled on March 14, marks the brand’s physical return to the British high street after committing to close all 81 of its UK and Ireland stores between August and September last year, following what Gap described at the time as a strategic review of its European business.
This subsequently resulted in the brand’s express digital-only focus across the two countries, before it revealed it had come to an agreement with Next early last autumn.
Commenting on the new shop-in-shop, Gap remarked that its relatively more open, minimal design reflected its reinvented approach to UK retail. It also said that its new Oxford Street location was merely the first phase in its new plan to re-establish a brick-and-mortar presence in the market.
Work on migrating the brand’s e-commerce division over to Next’s own Total Platform technology is also ongoing, Gap added, as is its work to integrate operational and customer service capabilities such as click-and-collect, next-day delivery and more.
Image: Gap.
