The Banana Republic Republic
I was in South Beach last week. You know, playground of Paris Hilton, J-Lo and Banana Republic. Banana Republic? Aren’t they just about everywhere?
Exactly. Anywhere you go, it seems there’s a Banana Republic store. It’s become the Starbucks of clothing stores.
The only problem with Banana Republic’s ubiquity is that whereas you can buy the same mocha every day, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll buy the same blouse or skirt every day. The only reason to have a similar clothing store on every street corner is if we adopt a national uniform – red merino wool sweater, black pants and respectable low-heel pumps (the look everyone is transformed into on TLC’s "What Not to Wear").
Gap, Inc. didn’t have a particularly good year in 2006. Perhaps they could have done with one less store on every corner in the U.S.
