Gap Inc. last week closed its store at Madison and Dearborn streets, where the clothing chain had been for almost two decades, while Citigroup Inc. plans to open a branch nearby in the Loop.
The Gap at Three First National Plaza, 70 W. Madison St., is one of 65 Gap stores being shuttered nationwide this year as the apparel giant pares back amid a slowdown in consumer spending.
A spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based retailer says no other stores in Chicago are slated to close, though she’s uncertain about whether any suburban stores could close this year.
Gap’s Loop store is roughly 4,300 square feet and opened at Three First National in 1989. A local executive with Hines Interests L.P., which owns the office tower, didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Gap, the nation’s largest clothing retailer, is decreasing the number of Gap stores this year, while slightly adding to its Old Navy and Banana Republic brands.
The company, which has a total of about 3,175 stores worldwide in the three brands, plans to open just 15 new Gap stores in the U.S. compared with the 65 it will close. The company is planning to open 30 Old Navy stores this year while closing 20. The retailer is also to open 35 Banana Republic stores and close 15 existing locations.
Meanwhile, New York-based Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, recently signed a 10-year lease for about 5,300 square feet at 111 W. Jackson Blvd., a 24-story office tower next to the Chicago Board of Trade Building. The new branch is to open this fall, says a Citigroup spokeswoman.
The bank replaces a 6,500-square-foot former Osco drugstore that closed more than a year ago, leaving about 1,200 square feet of space still available for lease.
The landlord, P&S L.P., didn’t return a call. John Vance, a vice-president with Chicago-based Stone Real Estate Corp. who is leasing the space, declined to comment.
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