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Gap clothing giant permanently closed in Banff

“They notified us they would be not be renewing their lease, and between them and us we agreed that it would make sense to accelerate the process of them leaving the mall and us finding another tenant to replace them.”

BANFF – The Gap has closed up shop in Banff’s Cascade mall – one of many of the multi-national fashion retailers’ stores to close this summer.

The San Francisco-based chain has been shutting down stores in Canada for several years.

When COVID-19 pandemic shut down non-essential businesses in mid-March, the Banff store closed, but did not reopen when Alberta’s economy began to slowly relaunch for some retail businesses in mid-May.

“They’ve been a great tenant and a very long-term tenant, but they’ve decided to shrink their footprint and focus on other ways of driving their sales,” said Robert Mckercher, president of Banff Cascade Development Inc.

“They notified us they would be not be renewing their lease, and between them and us, we agreed that it would make sense to accelerate the process of them leaving the mall and us finding another tenant to replace them.”

According to Gap, the Banff location was scheduled to close prior to COVID.

"Last year, we announced the plan to close Gap stores in North America over the next two years," according to an email statement. "This closure is aligned with our commitment to thoughtfully and decisively address stores that are underperforming."

Founded in 1969, Gap Inc. owns Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and Intermix and operates in more than 90 countries

The company’s net sales for the fiscal year in 2019 were $16.4 billion. Gap’s second-quarter 2020 earnings results were be released Thursday (Aug. 27).

Mckercher said Banff Cascade Development Ltd. has yet to find a new tenant to replace Gap.

“We’re in discussions and we’ve been touring groups, but no paperwork has been signed. Hopefully, we will have something open up there by the new year,” he said. 

“It’s a large space and the expectation would be that there would be changes to the space. It will be a large investment by both the landlord and tenants.”

Meanwhile, with Dairy Queen’s lease ending and the owners retiring, that space will be taken over by Popeyes, an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants founded in 1972 in New Orleans.

“Dairy Queen has exited and Popeyes will be opening next year,” Mckercher said.

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