State Street has fashion on its mind as Old Navy opens its largest store in the country Thursday. The purveyor of things hip and affordable likes to say it can outfit everyone from baby to grandma. The reality lies somewhere in between with aisles filled with teens and young women looking for the latest tops and bottoms and moms scouring the racks for styles for kids.
Old Navy, a division of Gap Inc., hopes to draw Loop workers, tourists and families to its new three-story, 60,000-square-foot store to check out the clothes and maybe grab a bite to eat at the corner of State and Washington Streets.
“What’s positive is that it fits a demographic that will sort of bring a new (younger) audience to enjoy State Street,” said Ted Ratcliff, vice chairman of the Greater State Street Council and general manager of the Palmer House Hilton.
“The mayor has a special place in his heart for State Street, as I think all Chicagoans do,” said Christine Burdick, the city’s State Street special projects coordinator. “The store itself is very family oriented. In essence, I think it will satisfy a bigger crowd.”
Everything about the Loop’s Old Navy store is bigger, with more merchandise than its typical locales offer. The airy building has the feel of a 1920s-style warehouse with metal-framed, multipaneled windows, brick columns and a concrete floor.
While the architecture may recall an earlier era, the fashions are firmly late 20th Century. This summer’s must-have item is the cargo short, which has sold well at every age group, said Joe Enos, a spokesperson for the San Francisco-based retailer. Old Navy has tapped the surplus pant as THE item for back-to-school. The pant features larger pockets in front and patch pockets in back, and it ranges in price from $15 for babies to $30 for men’s and women’s styles.
It was State Street’s own rediscovered sense of style that helped draw the retailer, Enos said. In late 1996, the city reopened the street to traffic and replaced outdated street lights and subway entrances with versions that recalled an earlier era and reflected the architecture of the older buildings on the street.
“It’s a great opportunity on the newly revitalized State Street,” Enos said. “The amount of foot traffic day in and day out is amazing.” The retailer loved the idea of being able to construct its own building at the downtown site and originally planned to open last summer, Enos said. That was delayed when Old Navy decided to add a third floor to the store, another first for the retailer.
What exactly fills those three floors? A lot of fashions and a few extras not found at some of the other 18 area stores, Enos said. On the first floor, along with the women’s department, is the Old Navy General Store. This kiosk stocks hard-to-resist little items and souvenirs, such as logo T-shirts ($9.50) and denim photo albums ($9.50 and $12), to catch the eye of shoppers.
On the second floor, along with the men’s department, is Torpedo Joe’s cafe. The World War II Quonset hut-style cafe will sell sandwiches, soups, salads, smoothies and coffee.
Finally, on the third floor are all the baby and kid clothes, including miniature versions of those surplus pants for fall, Enos said.
