Forth & Towne - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Forth & Towne is a defunct brand of clothing stores owned by Gap Inc.

Gap (clothing retailer)

The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...

, which owns Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy brands. It operated several test stores in the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

(Algonquin, Illinois

Algonquin, Illinois

Algonquin is a village in Illinois located in both McHenry and Kane counties. It is a northwest suburb of Chicago, located approximately 40 miles from the Loop...

; Aurora, Illinois

Aurora, Illinois

Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...

; Skokie, Illinois

Skokie, Illinois

Skokie is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Its name comes from a Native American word for "fire". A Chicago suburb, for many years Skokie promoted itself as "The World's Largest Village". Its population, per the 2000 census, was 63,348...

; Schaumburg, Illinois

Schaumburg, Illinois

Schaumburg is a city located in Cook County in northeastern Illinois. A common misspelling of the city name is Schaumberg, a spelling which persists on some modern maps. Schaumburg is located just under northwest of downtown Chicago and approximately northwest of O'Hare International Airport. As...

), Atlanta, and New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

(West Nyack, New York

West Nyack, New York

West Nyack is a hamlet in the Town of Clarkstown Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Central Nyack; east of Nanuet; south of Valley Cottage and west of Upper Nyack. It is approximately 18 miles north of New York City...

) areas. Forth & Towne focused on women over 35 who grew up with the Gap brand, but have "lost touch" with it.

The name of the store refers to both the fact that it was Gap Inc.'s fourth retail clothing brand, and that the store design attempted to instill a feeling of community. The first Forth & Towne location to open was in West Nyack's Palisades Center

Palisades Center

The Palisades Center Mall, often referred to as the Palisades Mall, in West Nyack, New York is the eighth largest shopping mall in the United States by total area, and sixth largest by gross leasable space...

; it opened on August 24, 2005.

In February 2007, Gap Inc announced that all 19 stores were slated for closure, and on June 15, 2007, the first store, in Schaumburg, closed. By the end of August, all Forth & Towne stores had ceased operating.

Closure

The closure affected approximately 550 employees. Gap Inc. anticipated $40 million of pre-tax expenses associated with the closure, over first and second quarters of fiscal year 2007. Any returns of Forth & Towne merchandise in areas affected by the closing were honored by Gap stores, Old Navy

Old Navy

Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...

stores, and Banana Republic stores until December 31, 2007.

Closure

See also