Back to the ‘The Mall is Dead’ Thesis; Gap Stores Clown Punches Lower on Earnings Comedy

So the company was supposed to come in with same store sales of +0.5%. Instead, the posted a -7% deficit.

Banana Republic sales were off by 7% for the month, while degenerate clothing chain Old Navy dove by -10%.

First-quarter sales totaled $3.44 billion, down 6 percent from $3.66 billion a year earlier.

The company now expects to earn 31 to 32 cents per share for the quarter. The average analyst estimate was for earnings of 44 cents per share on revenue of $3.54 billion, according to FactSet.

I realize there are some people out there who say ‘the mall isn’t dead. It’s merely resting and waiting for better merchants.’ But I view the collapse of these chains as a symptom of an economy that is providing people with less than ideal discretionary budgets. While jobs are being created, the quality of said jobs are an abomination. How else can you describe the divergence between jobs and retail sales?

Is Amazon truly capturing all market share, leaving traditional outlets to rot in hell?

GPS is down 13% in the after hours to a fresh 52 Week low.