Gap store to become outlet

Paul Dellinger

CHRISTIANSBURG - The Gap clothing store, which opened about five years ago in the New River Valley Mall, closed today but will reopen within months in a new incarnation.

Interior changes will be carried out for six to eight weeks, converting it into a Gap Outlet store. Gap Outlets are stores that sell Gap labels including Old Navy and Banana Republic at lower prices.

Much of the Gap merchandise had been offered at sale prices before the store closed.

The first Gap store opened in California in 1969. It acquired Banana Republic in 1983, and opened its first overseas store, in London, in 1987. The first Gap Outlet opened its doors in 1994.