Contact: Colleen Roche/ Jennifer Chait (212) 788-2958
"It's a pleasure to be here tonight as the Fashion Capital of the World welcomes the flagship store of the Gap -- one of the world's leading retailers of men's, women's and children's clothing," Mayor Giuliani said. "With a fashion industry that employs over 225,000 New Yorkers and generates $27 billion in local economic activity, New York City stands as the undisputed Fashion Capital of the World. And it is fitting tonight -- more than 100 years after New York City began to make its mark on the world of fashion, and 25 years after the Gap established its first store in the City -- that the three-story, 36,000 square-foot Gap flagship store opens in the heart of one of the greatest commercial areas in the world.
"The opening of the Gap flagship store is going to provide more than clothing and accessories, it will add hundreds of jobs to the 3,200 that the Gap already offers in New York City," the Mayor continued. "It also signals that we have changed the climate in New York City from anti-business to pro-business, with $2.2 billion in record tax reductions and elimination of the regressive commercial rent tax in most of the City. And, as a result of our successful tax-free clothing weeks, as of December 1999, New Yorkers will no longer pay the sales tax on clothing items $110 or less -- including shoes. There is no better place to open a flagship store, and as Mayor of the Fashion Capital of the World, I welcome the Gap flagship store to New York City."
Located on Fifth Avenue at 54th Street, the Gap flagship is the 30th Gap store in Manhattan, and the 42nd in New York City. The store features men's, women's and children's clothing showcased in a state-of-the-art building covered by a glass front and glass awnings. The store also features an 18-video monitor totem pole displaying clothing, two web lounges that allow online shopping, and monitors that display footage from other Gap stores around the world. Tonight's opening was broadcast live on the Internet in conjunction with the Rolling Stone Network at http://www.rollingstone.com/special/gap.