The Gap Closes Doors on Gap Kids

As part of its real estate consolidation strategy, the Gap closed its store on lower East Ridgewood Avenue last week, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

"Our in Ridgewood will now carry GapKids and babyGap, in addition to adult apparel," Gap spokeswoman Kimberly Terry said in an e-mail Monday.

It's just the latest Gap to close nationally.

In October, the struggling apparel company reaffirmed to shareholders its plan to reduce the number of Gap brand stores in North America to 700 by the close of 2013, a cut that represents more than a one-third reduction in stores since 2007.

"There is hardly any inventory of the gap kids stuff at the regular Gap store now," said one Ridgewood Patch Facebook commenter of the news. "The regular gap already had the worst inventory of any store in the area. And the slow death of Ridgewoods CBD continues," added another.

According to Terry, once consolidation is done, "we merchandise it to ensure we’re using the square footage as efficiently as possible, minimizing any potential impact to the number of items we’re able to offer. Our goal is always to continue to offer as much of the collection as possible while ensuring the store is easy to shop."

Property owner Milridge Realty LLC, based out of Tenafly, could not be reached for comment Monday.