Gap is going to open a new store along retail hotspot State Street, according to a source familiar with the deal.
The company signed a lease at 17 N. State St. for a Gap Factory store, which offers an “exclusive line of casual-chic styles available only at Factory” according to the brand’s website, at a lower price compared to Gap. The retailer has six factory locations in Illinois, including one in Logan Square at 2778 N. Milwaukee Ave.
There’s no target date for the store’s opening, and the length of the lease is unknown.
Gap did not respond to requests for comment.
The retail chain is taking over a former Express, which closed the location after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. A law firm, skin care clinic and office for the Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias are tenants in the building.
Crain’s Chicago Business was first to report on the Gap Factory store.
The building, known as the Stevens Building, is owned by Marc Realty. Marc Realty did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lease marks a positive sign for Gap and the retail corridor along State Street. Gap closed its three-story flagship store on North Michigan Avenue in early 2021. It had been in the building since 2000.
Overall, retail market is still struggling to fill vacant spaces left after the pandemic. But the Chicago Loop Alliance found growing success along the commercial corridor at the end of last year — there was 10% more pedestrian foot traffic during the holiday shopping season in 2024 than in the previous year, according to the group.
State Street had 1.4 million average weekly impressions during the fourth quarter of 2024, the Loop Alliance said in its latest State of the Loop report. That figure represents 88% of 2019 levels, making it the highest-performing fourth quarter since the pandemic.