Colorado Gap stores reopen today with a sleek new design and beefed-up amenities.
The marketwide redo is likely to serve as the model for a nationwide makeover as Gap tries to attract more shoppers and keep them in its stores longer.
“As Gap customers age, they’re demanding more service than they may have when they were 20 years old,’ said John C. Melaniphy III, executive vice president of Chicago’s Melaniphy & Associates Inc. “Now they have to cater to the lifestyle of the upscale customer who demands more.’
To do that, Gap has replaced its wide-open design with sectioned-off stores that have boutique-style display areas.
Dressing rooms have adjustable lighting and offer complimentary bottled water along with light-up call buttons to summon staff members. The back of the store features a lounge complete with couch, coffee table, magazines, newspapers and games.
Store lighting and fixtures have been upgraded with an emphasis on whites and woods, with color panels that can be changed seasonally. Books are arranged among the apparel to cue certain occasions – golf books with the summer clothes and humorous work books stacked next to office wear.
“The in-store experience and emotion a customer feels are important. We need to be part of that,’ said Christopher Hufnagel, Gap’s vice president of brand store experience. “Our metaphor was an art gallery. It’s clean and plain with amazing lighting and simple classic fixtures. Our art is our product.’
Analysts are enthusiastic about the change.
“The brilliance of Gap retailing is about merchandising,’ said Candace Corlett, principal with WSL Strategic Retail in New York. “It’s an emotional connection with customers. They are way ahead of others in doing that.’
Jennifer Black, a retail analyst who previously criticized the company for missing the mark on fashion and merchandising, said it is diligently working to fix those mistakes.
“They’ve taken the best of many different retailers and put it all in one,’ Black said, following a briefing at Gap’s San Francisco headquarters Thursday.
Gap officials would not disclose how much they spent to remodel seven Colorado stores – at Aspen Grove, Park Meadows, Southwest Plaza, FlatIron Crossing, Denver Pavilions and Cherry Creek mall in metro Denver, and at Chapel Hills mall in Colorado Springs.
Gap stores in Greeley and Boulder were closed permanently, and outlets and lower-priority Gap stores, including one at Tamarac Square, were untouched.
The company is trying to localize the stores with such touches as a Denver skyline printed on the paper used to wrap clothing purchases. The company will also sell CDs of in-store music that will also feature Denver’s skyline on the covers.
Gap officials plan to remodel stores in San Diego and Hartford, Conn., later this year. Then they will assess the stores’ success and most likely expand the concept.
Analysts also anticipate that certain Gap store features will emerge among other retailers.
“National retail chains are notorious for copycatting each other,’ said Jon Schallert, president of The Schallert Group Inc., a Sorrento, Fla.-based retail consulting firm.
“If Gap has call buttons in the dressing rooms, somebody else will have bells and whistles, and somebody else will put a kazoo in there.’
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
