Gap closing Forth & Towne stores

[cmyk]

Another retailer is closing their women's specialty store chains. I was sad to see Gymboree close their Janeville stores last month...they had cute mommy clothes.

Shelley

[C99]

I am not surprised. The only thing I liked about f&T was the dressing rooms. The clothes were just too upscale and fussy for me. I was very sad about Janeville, however; the clothes were more balanced between stylish and busy-mom-of-small-kids.

[Marisa6826]

They probably would have done *significantly* better if they sold their stuff online. Considering the limited number of stores they had, I don't know how they expected to stay in business, kwim?

Elisabeth is also closing all their stores, but will continue to sell online.

Sigrid Olsen is supposedly no longer selling their 'fat' sizes anymore. That really sucks - her clothes fit me very well. *sigh*

-m

[KarenNYC]

bummer - I LOVED their stuff

[Melanie]

We just got one, I'll have to check them out and see if they have some great store closing sales. I didn't know they are Gap-related.

[sweetpea]

I know they are marketing toward my age group but I couldn't bring myself to purchase any of my wardrobe from a store with the initials FAT.

Maybe I am, but I don't need to be reminded!

[LaurelC]

I did too! I haven't even bought anything there yet because I was planning to after my baby was born.

The store near me only opened a few months ago.

[g-mama]

ITA that Janeville and F&T would've done better selling clothes online. I asked at Janeville once why they didn't, or when they planned to. The sales associate told me that their sizing was super inconsistent from piece to piece and until they had that problem worked out, they couldn't sell their stuff in a way that it couldn't be tried on - the returns issue would be a nightmare.

For example, I am usually a size 8. I have two skirts from Janeville; one is a size 4 and one is a size 6. In their jeans, a size 8 fit me. She said that women complained about it all the time and it was very frustrating to her as a worker. I don't know if F&T had the same issue - we never had one here. I was sad to see Janeville go.



~Kristen

Paolo 11-00
Benjamin 8-03
Marco 12-05

[kcandz]

Interesting...I never made it to Janeville but did to Forth and Towne. If they are catering their clothes to "older demographic" than traditional Old Navy/Gap shoppers, it is a critical error to not offer clothes online. That is how I do almost all my shopping for myself: order online, try at home late at night, return to store or mail back what isn't working.