Clothing retailer Gap Inc. announced Monday that it plans to shutter 175 North American stores and eliminate 250 corporate jobs. Here's what we know so far:
1. The company is closing about 18 percent of its namesake stores in North America. Of the 175 locations expected to close, about 140 will shut down this fiscal year, according to the Associated Press. Gap, which currently has 963 stores here, has not released a list of the locations being axed.
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2. The announcement only covers the company's namesake stores. Old Navy and Banana Republic, which Gap owns, are not included in the closures, the AP reports. Gap Factory and Gap Outlet locations also aren't affected.
3. What will happen to the workers at the shuttered stores? Gap, which did not reveal the number of employees at those stores, said it will try to place the workers in jobs at different locations, the AP reports.
4. What will the company gain? Officials said the store closures and job cuts will save Gap about $25 million a year. Eliminating the jobs at its headquarters also should make the company "faster and more decisive," Gap told the AP.
5. What prompted this decision? Sales have been slumping because the brand has "failed to keep up with the right design trends," according to the AP. Gap's same-store sales fell 15 percent in April and 6 percent in May, Forbes reports.
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