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C+CT

Gap sales up four quarters in a row

November 17, 2017

Gap Inc. upgraded its outlook for the remainder of 2018 after posting a fourth straight quarter of positive same-store sales. The company now expects comparable sales for fiscal year 2017 to be up in the low-single-digits, president and CEO Arthur Peck said on a third-quarter earnings call with investors.

Third-quarter same-store sales were up 3 percent for the company as a whole, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of positive comp sales. Net sales for the quarter were $3.8 billion, a 1 percent increase from last year,

Gap same-store sales grew by 1 percent, compared to a decline of 4 percent for the same period in 2016. At Banana Republic, comp sales were down 1 percent, against a negative 6 percent last year.

Old Navy same-store sales were up by 4 percent. The retailer opened 20 Old Navy stores in North America this year, to bring the total store count to 1,070. “We are accelerating our new store openings in 2018,” Peck added.

“It's worth noting that all brands outpaced industry traffic for the quarter,” Peck said. “This marks the third consecutive quarter that Gap and Old Navy traffic outpaced the industry. We attribute this strength to improved and more consistent advertising.”

The company ended the third quarter of fiscal year 2017 with 3,639 store locations in 46 countries, of which 3,193 were company-operated. Gap Inc. has previously announced plans to shutter 200 stores to trim operations costs. Peck said he thinks all of those stores will have closed by the end of 2018.  The retailer is combing through locations and leases to decide which stores will make the cut, Peck added. “This is a delicate dance that we're doing with our landlords, and there’s a fair amount of negotiation going on right now,” he said. “We’re up to our eyeballs right now in the midst of what is a really constructive dialogue.”

By Brannon Boswell

Executive Editor, Commerce + Communities Today

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