What’s In A Flagship?

Gap closing stores isn’t really news. The apparel retailer has been closing hundreds as it works to build back its brand, grow its e-commerce and get away from the mall. The company just announced yet more will shut down this year and next. But closing its flagship in hometown San Francisco, near the touristy Union Square shopping district downtown, got some extra attention. The sprawling store is in the historic Flood building, one of the few to survive the city’s 1906 earthquake thanks to its hardy steel frame and blue-gray Colusa sandstone-covered brick, which may or may not be haunted. Gap opened there early in 1994, the same year the company opened its first-ever, lower-priced Old Navy store. Read more at Retail Dive.