Banana Republic Bets on San Fran’s Union Sq. With Flagship Opening

San Francisco’s Union Sq., affected by retailer closings as a result of excessive incidents of homelessness and crime and depressed shopper site visitors, bought a elevate with the opening of a Banana Republic flagship at 152 Geary Avenue.

Nordstrom, Specific, Anthropologie and CB2 are among the many 40 or so retailers which have deserted Union Sq. and surrounding streets. However Banana, which is a part of the San Francisco-based Hole Inc., isn’t giving up on its hometown. Its two-level, 3,500-square-foot flagship, opened within the coronary heart of town’s historic district, showcases the model’s increasing assortment and transformation into a way of life label with the current addition of dwelling merchandise.

“Our Banana Republic Geary Avenue retailer is our model’s pinnacle flagship, showcasing our continued transformation in our historic hometown,” Sandra Stangl, Banana Republic president and chief government officer, mentioned in an announcement Wednesday.

The shop has a collection of ready-to-wear, equipment and the newly launched BR House assortment of seating, eating furnishings and lighting set up designed to enrich the attire collections.

“As seen lately with the opening of our BR House New York Metropolis and L.A. pop-ups, we’re persevering with to develop our retailer footprints, discovering what works, fascinated with attention-grabbing and progressive methods to achieve our clients, and imagining what we might do subsequent,” Stangl mentioned.

Final month, Banana Republic launched furnishings, lighting and decor to its BR House Assortment, in one other step forward towards evolving into a real life-style model, one which’s much less depending on males’s and girls’s trend. “We began with textiles final spring. Now now we have a extra cohesive assortment,” Stangl informed WWD at a dinner on the Aman New York resort to formally unveil the brand new dwelling merchandise.

“We’ll preserve increasing our dwelling assortment over time,” mentioned Stangl, with out divulging any dwelling classes for the long run. A lot may very well be launched, be it glassware, tabletop, storage, group, out of doors patio, mattress and bathtub or small kitchen devices.

Within the second quarter ended July 29, Banana Republic generated internet gross sales of $480 million, which have been down 11 % in comparison with final 12 months’s second quarter. Comparable gross sales have been down 8 %. For all of 2022, Banana generated $2.12 billion in quantity versus $1.98 billion in 2021.