June 6, 2014: American garment retailer Gap like the other global fashion apparel brands like Zara and Marks & Spencer would be opening its stores in India early next year. In a report that has appeared in Economic Times, the company is close to signing a franchisee deal with Ahmedabad based Textile company Arvind. The report further says that both companies would be closing the deal shortly as more or less it is a done deal and that Gap would be having the call option to buy stake in the company in the future. The deal is expected to be announced in a month or so. Initially Arvind is set to run the stores and Gap will be involved in the same. Arvind recently has been searching for spaces in various malls across the country to open Gap stores.
It is reported that Arvind will be looking to open more than 10,000 Gap stores in various parts of the country. Few of the famous brands of Gap include Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, Athleta and Inermix. Gap which started as a single store in 1969 in San Francisco has now become a leading global specialty retailer clothing, accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies. It has now got 3,200 company-operated stores and almost 400 franchise stores across the world.
