Old Navy

Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its flagship stores, located in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Manila, and Mexico City. History In the early 1990s, Dayton-Hudson Corporation (then the parent company of Target, Mervyn's, Dayton's, Hudson's, and Marshall Field's) looked to establish a new division branded as a less expensive version of Gap called Everyday Hero; Gap's then-CEO Millard Drexler responded by opening Gap Warehouse in existing Gap outlet locations in 1993. On March 11, 1994, Gap Warehouse was renamed Old Navy Clothing Co. to establish a separate image from its parent company Gap Inc. The name was conceived after the other original proposed names, Monorail and Forklift, were disliked by Drexler, and decided upon the new name after seeing a building with the two words on it during a visit to Paris. The new stores were about , compared to less than for Gap Warehouse stores. On March 11, 1994, the first Old Navy locations opened in the northern California towns of Colma, San Leandro and Pittsburg. According to Kevin Lonergan, Gap's director of stores, Old Navy stores were intentionally designed like grocery stores, with flowing aisles, shopping carts, and small impulse items near the checkout counters. The cement floor, metal shelving, and checkout counters built from polished pressed board and galvanized metal gave the stores an industrial warehouse feel, while the colorful arrangements and large number of employees working set it apart from other discount clothing stores. Later that year, 42 other Old Navy stores opened, and most of the 45 Gap Warehouse stores were renamed Old Navy.