Customer Reviews

Into--and Out of--The GAP: A Cautionary Account of an American Retailer

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I honestly believe that either the previous reviewers are family members of mr. nevaer or they didn't read beyond the jacket flap copy.

I did.

mr. nevaer essentially attributes gap's challenges
to gay people. I'm not kidding. with prose pearls such as "flaming queens" and "twinkies", he makes some of the most preposterous claims ever to be found in an allegedly serious business publication. not to mention using
some of the most offensive language and thinking to be found

in anything published since 1957.

the great majority of quotes from his anonymous sources ring incredibly false -- people don't talk like he writes -- and his theses are largely presented without support other than... um... that's what he thinks.

mr. nevaer is, of course, free to hold whatever prejudices
he likes. you, however, shouldn't pay to endorse them.
and you can find much more serious and balanced consideration
of the gap and its recent stumbles elsewhere.

The book meanders incomprehensibly. Concepts are disjointed. Anecdotal tales of homophobia, antisemitism, racism, and colonisation randomly appear and mostly do nothing to undergird the theme of the work - which Nevaer unmercifully pounds into your head on every single page ad nauseum: the Gap mis-managed the coming of age of "generation y" (whatever that is) and this strategic blunder coupled with cannibalisation of itself with its subsidiary, old Navy, spells certain disaster for the retailing behemoth. The story ends there. Tales of marginalised groups in relationship to the history of the Gap would be an interesting book. Unfortunately, this isn't it.

This book made me remember what [was] explained to me once years back. That fashion reflects society's mindset. This book does a brilliant job telling the business story of the Gap while helping explaining what was going on in American society at the same time. When we become used to something, we forget what it was like without it: before ATMs were introduced in the mid-1980s, we had to think about how much cash we'd need for that week, then go to the bank and cash a check. It seems so archaic now the ubiquitous nature of ATMs. But the changes that the Gap wrought -- music in the stores, being able to help yourself (and not having a sales clerk show items behind cases), and incorporating elements of pop culture's sensibilities revolutionized merchandising. How ATMs changed the way we bank, the Gap changed the way we shop ... and this book is the authoritative business story of that seismic mindset in American retail.

INTO does a terrific job of explaining how Don Fisher at the Gap pioneered using pop culture in retailing. It often takes someone who's not in a given feel to "break out of the box." Fisher, a real estate developer by profession, had no background in merchandising. That's probably why he "revolutionized" retailing -- first by modeling the Gap stores on the Sonny & Cher show, and then by co-opting pop culture. But as we know, Gap's done poorly -- and INTO explains where it lost its focus in the 1990s. This is a fascinating discussion.

This book came out in September 2001 and the author predicted that Mickey Drexler had to go. Then yesterday Mickey Drexler resigns! He saw this coming months before anyone on Wall Street did - I was blown away. This shows what a thorough analysis of the Gap, how it started with one store and grew to more than 4,200, and how it changed merchandising in America. This is a compelling book -- good luck to the Gap. They should hire the author to replace Mickey Drexler.

When I bought this book I was afraid that it would be gossipy like THE RISE AND FALL OF THE HOUSE OF BARNEYS. But what a delight! Not only does this book tell the history of Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, but it does so through the telling of the social history of America. How pop culture revolutionized retailing is a tremendous context. The author takes the work of Alison Lurie and Paco Underhill and shows how Donald Fisher used the meaning of dress and "retail anthropology" to go from one store to more than 4,000. And that Donald Fisher had to rise above antisemitism in American retailing is compelling reading. I mentioned this book to my sister who told me it was required reading in her MBA course -- this book may be academic but it's for everyone.