mind the...

The Park Drive Sopranos gathered around the table last night for garlic bread and heaping bowls of something like pasta primavera. There was veg aplenty (including a steamed artichoke with lemon butter) to signal what appears to be the first baby steps of Spring, some Pinot Noir splashing about, and seared scallops standing by as ala carte accessories. Tasty. As we were wrapping the episode, WonderTwin Segundo popped over to ravish the remaining tidbits and I ended up in a Gap fashion discussion with Primo and Segundo (I could not hold my own when they started on about ‘twin sets’). It all started because X stretched her reading of the Gap’s financial statements for her accounting class into wondering just why the company was struggling financially. They both put forth the idea that the Gap quit doing what they had been so successful doing: basics. Jeans and quality t-shirts. Apparently, the prices were always right, they used to sell nice ‘twin sets’ (I know!), and now they’ve lost their way by trying to be something they aren’t, or never were. There was much guffawing about the Gap introducing Chinos for this season….as if! My theory is more established in the fall of the mall and the rise of competition. I think brick-and-mortar places are too expensive to maintain compared to online selling. It’s not that they’re not viable, they just have to be managed and placed properly. As an example, Tyson’s Corner Center has a Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy within 100 meters of each other and they are all owned by the same company – and, malls aren’t even being built anymore so why hitch the wagon to mall culture? I also don’t think that opening all the Old Navys in (somewhat) direct competition with Gap buyers was such a brilliant idea. If you add to that all the online sellers that have blossomed over the last five years, the growth of Target, Kohl’s, the mass consolidation at Macy’s, and any number of other sellers, I can see how that middle market that Gap used to fill has vanished. So, here's a Cliffs Note version of the hearing:

Me = Logic
WonderTwins = Twin Sets

The strangest part about this life of mine? Slate ran this article today that probably supports the Wonder-Twin Sets. Damn, foiled again.

T.