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Gap, the American clothing chain, is expanding its network in Eastern Europe. This week, the chain opens its first Gap store in Serbia and its first Banana Republic store in Moscow. This week’s expansion lifts the number of franchise stores over the milestone of 200 – just half of the number Gap aims for by 2014.
Ideal market opportunity in Russia
AfiMall City, Moscow’s largest shopping centre, welcomes the city’s first Banana Republic. “Given Russia’s high demand for retail consumption, the market presents an ideal opportunity to introduce Banana Republic’s affordable luxury offering”, says Stefan Laban, managing director Strategic Alliances at Gap Inc. The new store will be operated by Fiba Holding, which also has Gap stores in Turkey and the Ukraine.
Both Gap and Banana Republic had been available for Russian consumers since last year. The brand Gap itself has been active in Russia since 2008 and has established 11 franchise stores since, 9 of which in Moscow. The brand now focuses on Serbia, as one of Greece’s main retail groups, The Marinopoulos Group, is opening the first Gap store (complete with GapKids and babyGap) in Belgrade. The Greek group already manages Gap stores in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece and Romania.
Including Serbia, Gap Inc is now active in 27 countries and hopes to raise that number to 30 before the year is over. Chili, Morocco and Vietnam are next in line to join the group of Gapped countries.
