this might sting for a second.
Maybe you should have said a nanosecond.
Thursday October 28 6:21 PM ET
Gap Stores President Resigns
By RACHEL BECK AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Robert Fisher, the son of the founders of the Gap clothing chain, has resigned from his post as president of the slumping Gap stores division.
Fisher, who has been with the Gap since 1980s when he started as a store manager, will also step down from his position as executive vice president of the parent company, Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS - news).
The resignation, announced Thursday, is effective Nov. 15. After that, the Gap stores division will report to Millard Drexler, president and chief executive of Gap Inc.
The company said in a statement that Fisher was leaving for personal reasons, but there was some speculation over whether the sagging sales at the Gap stores led to his departure.
Investors cheered the move, pushing up the stock $3.121/2, or nearly 10 percent, to $34.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The namesake Gap stores were long the anchor and big money maker of the San Francisco-based Gap Inc. chain. But the division's sales started to slide last spring as customers shied away from some of its fashions and many turned to its sister division - Old Navy - where they could find trendy, casual clothing at cheaper prices.
``What the Gap now needs is fresh thinking,' said Kurt Barnard, a retail consultant and president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report in Upper Montclair, N.J.
``They need to put the same energy into the Gap as they did with Old Navy when they created it a few years ago,' he added. ``The Gap needs to stand out again as it once did.'
Fisher is the son of Donald and Doris Fisher, who opened a small store in 1969 in San Francisco. The couple named their store The Gap - after ``the generation gap' - and concentrated on selling Levi's jeans.
The chain now has about 2,500 stores, which also includes Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, GapKids and babyGap stores.
Fisher, who is 44, joined the company in 1980 after received an MBA at Stanford University. Five years later, he was named executive vice president of merchandising for Banana Republic, then an 11-store division of Gap Inc.
He became Banana Republic's president in 1989 and was elected to Gap Inc.'s board of directors in 1990. An executive vice president of the company since 1992, he served as chief operating officer from 1992-93 and 1995-97, and chief financial officer from 1993-95.
He was named head of the Gap division in 1997, charged with reversing the division's sales decline. The turnaround was almost immediate - sales were strong in 1998.
Under his direction, the company refocused the direction of the Gap stores, directing more attention to basics - such as jeans, T-shirts and khakis. Gap also opened its online store. |
