Gap Planning to Reopen Hundreds of Stores in Coming Weeks

Gap Planning to Reopen Hundreds of Stores in Coming Weeks
A man sits outside a closed Gap store in London, UK, on May 1, 2020. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Zachary Stieber
5/6/2020
Updated:
5/6/2020

Up to 800 Gap stores will reopen in the coming weeks, the company announced Wednesday.

The first stores will open in Texas this weekend. Hundreds of others will welcome customers before the end of the month.

Gap stores include Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic.

A slew of changes are being implemented by the company in response to the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus from China.

Workers will receive high-quality face masks and be required to wear them while at work. Customers will be encouraged to wear masks or face coverings.

Plexiglass partitions are being installed in front of registers as a barrier between employees and customers.

Restrooms and fitting rooms will not reopen for the time being and any items returned will be isolated for 24 hours before being placed back out for purchase by others.

A closed Gap store in Farmington Hills, Mich., on March 26, 2020. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
A closed Gap store in Farmington Hills, Mich., on March 26, 2020. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Other measures include ramping up cleaning routines, providing hand sanitizer stations at front doors, and posting signs encouraging customers to maintain at least six feet from people they don’t live with.

“In working with industry partners and public officials to define Safe Shopping practices, we’re eager to begin welcoming our teams and customers back to our stores, and confident in our ability to safely scale North America openings over the coming months in line with local guidelines,” said Sonia Syngal, Gap CEO, in a statement.

Some stores will offer curbside pickup and 1,000 have already been offering shipping straight from stores.

A number of other companies have started reopening or are planning to soon.

Macy’s opened dozens of stores this week in Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The retailer plans to open all of its 775 stores within six weeks.

Kohl’s said it was reopening stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah starting Monday.

A significant number of Starbucks started reopening this week. Many won’t welcome customers inside but will conduct pickup in various ways.