Gap Makes a Bold Comeback in the UK Amid European Rebranding Efforts

Gap is making a comeback in Europe. The U.S. group has stepped up its expansion in the United Kingdom with the opening of three new stores of its own, including a flagship store on November 6th, according to Drapers. As part of the company’s relaunch, hitherto focused on its home market, the company is looking to reconnect with the younger generation.

The first opening will be its flagship store on Nov. 6th at 30-31 Long Acre in Covent Garden, one of London’s most visited shopping areas, followed by another outlet at Westfield London on Dec. 4th and an outlet at the London Designer Outler in Wembley Park on Dec. 12th, in the midst of the brand’s revitalization.

Gap has spent the past few years retreating into its home market as it introduces a relaunch plan led by CEO Richard Dickson that seeks to reconnect with culture and new generations, but only American ones.

The retailer closed its entire network of stores in Ireland and the United Kingdom in 2021 and in Spain and Portugal in 2024, where it had operated since 2020 through an agreement with the Catalan company Grup Calcerán, franchise partner of other multinationals such as Levi’s, Dockers and Under Armour. Currently, Gap operates in Spain only through corners in department store El Corte Inglés.

Gap’s sales reached $3.72 billion in the second quarter of the current fiscal year

Gap concentrates 88.13% of its revenues in the United States. In fact, outside the United States and Canada, the company had a turnover of just over $609 million in the last fiscal year. The company ended the period (closed on August 2nd) with a flat sales performance, growing by more than 2%, and its operating income, which increased by nearly 27%.

At the end of the second quarter, the sales of the group, led by Richard Dickson for the past two years, stood at $3.725 billion, in line with the $3.720 billion of the same period in 2024.

After the Great Recession hit, Gap began a process of international growth, relying mostly on local partners through franchising. In 2014, the company reached its global turnover peak at $16.435 billion, also reaching the company’s international peak at $3.763 billion and an international share of 22.9%. Since 2017, the group’s share went downward, leading Dickson to initiate a restructuring plan, which was finally truncated with the arrival of Covid-19.