Old Navy stores go under the knife

By Rachel Tobin Ramos

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Last spring, retailer Old Navy launched new spokespeople: the "supermodelquins."

This spring, the company is putting its stores under the knife with a "racetrack" layout and value wall. The remodel on the store at Atlantic Station in Midtown Atlanta should be done in May. It's one of seven Georgia stores set to get remodeled this year.

All this cosmetic surgery is Old Navy's attempt to bring back customers lost after the chain strayed from its value credo around 2007. Old Navy closed one store in the metro Atlanta market last year.

The redesigned stores will have a racetrack design to help shoppers save time, a play area for kids, dressing rooms in the center of the store, and a "fundamentals" wall with new, low-priced products, Gap spokesman Daniel Rubin said.

San Francisco-based Gap Inc. launched Old Navy as a lower-cost sister brand in 1994. Gap Inc. also owns Banana Republic, Athleta and Piperlime.

Rubin said that since Old Navy was founded, the stores have not undergone a wholesale remodel. Gap expects to spend $575 million on capital expenditures in 2010, including the Old Navy store changes.

Of the 32 Old Navy stores in Georgia, two (Merchants Walk in Marietta and Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah) will reopen April 24 with the new design.

Old Navy remodeled 50 stores last year and will do 200 more this year, for about a quarter of its 1,000-plus stores.

Old Navy hit a valley in 2008 with store sales of $5.2 billion, compared to $6.6 billion in 2005, financial reports show. The chain recovered some in 2009 with sales of $5.3 billion. Gap Inc.'s sales in 2009 were $14.2 billion.