Gap Inc. on Friday announced the launch of its first flagship store in Hong Kong. The store is Gap’s ninth in the Greater China region as the company continues to expand the international reach of its brands through its franchise, online and company-operated channels.
The new store spans more than 15,000 square feet over four floors on the sought-after Queens Road in Hong Kong’s burgeoning Central District. The store location is housed in a beautiful new building with an award winning architectural design. With large floor-to-ceiling windows, white marble and Chinese oak wooden floors, the store creates an inviting and inspiring environment for customers to shop collections from Gap, GapKids, babyGap and GapBody.
"Opening in Hong Kong is a momentous occasion and demonstrates Gap Inc.’s continued commitment to make our optimistic American style more readily available to Chinese consumers," said Redmond Yeung, president of Gap Greater China. "Based on the demand levels we’ve experienced through e-commerce sales over the last year, we know that Hong Kong consumers have a strong appetite for Gap’s affordable, high-quality and uniquely American fashion."
Gap Inc. celebrated its first anniversary in China this month, and during this time has expanded to four stores in Shanghai and four in Beijing. In addition to Hong Kong, the company will open new stores in Shanghai, HangZhou and Tianjin over the coming weeks. Since launching the ecommerce site www.gap.cn last year, online orders have been logged from over 330 cities in China, covering all parts of the country. The company expects to grow the fleet to about 45 stores in China by the end of fiscal 2012.
Stephen Sunnucks, president of Gap Inc. International, added, "For over 40 years, Gap has provided American style, celebrated creativity and made a positive difference in the communities where we conduct business. We see these same values resonating as strongly with customers and employees in China as they do in our established markets."
For major markets such as China, the company typically enters with brand-building flagship stores, followed by Outlet and smaller stores in outlying areas and an online expression of the brand. Sunnucks continued "We’re very optimistic about our entry into Hong Kong and believe it’s a natural next step for our expansion strategy in China, especially given its international relevance as a gateway to the fashion world."
(Source: Gap Inc.)