A shrinking Gap in your city?

More challenging times for retailers means a bit of belt tightening, and The Gap is in on the money-saving measures. Don't worry, you're not going to be losing The Gap all together. But retail space is expensive, so the company is trying to trim expenses by renting less space.

The Gap currently rents 40 million square feet, and will look for savings achieved through combining the kids and babies stores into the main Gap stores. Many of the main stores have excellent locations in malls, so in addition to cutting costs, the kids and babies lines might even benefit from better locations.

Company management admits that they "got carried away" with expanding when the economy was doing better and The Gap was flying high. They're right... how many Gap branded stores does one mall or one city need? It's nice to see executives taking responsibility like this, and the plan they have for maximizing their retail seems like a good idea. Look for revamped stores coming to a mall near you within the next year.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.