Barely a year after launching furniture as part of a big home furnishings rollout, Banana Republic seems to have pulled the plug on the program.

While not officially announcing the change, the apparel retailer has removed furniture from its website, and at a visit a few weeks ago to one of its New York flagship stores, a salesperson identified as a “home furnishings specialist” said furniture was being discontinued. He indicated that if a shopper wanted to place an order, they needed to do so immediately.

While the retailer, a division of Gap Inc., did not initially respond to an inquiry to its investor relations department for details, a company spokesperson later confirmed that furniture was no longer in its future: “After a year of testing and learning, we plan to evolve the BR Home assortment to focus more on textiles and accessories, moving away from larger upholstery and furniture.”

It was only 13 months ago that Banana Republic officially launched its assortment of furniture, lighting and home decor, fast on the heels of introducing soft-home bed and bath to its assortment. BR Home was meant to be an extension of the retailer’s lifestyle-focused merchandising mix, using many of the same monochromatic color themes, textures and even materials found on its men’s and women’s clothing.

The collection was brought to market under its CEO at the time, Sandra Stangl, who joined Banana Republic in December 2020 following stints at RH and Pottery Barn. Her timing probably couldn’t have been worse, as the entire home furnishings market was poised to enter a post-pandemic slowdown, one that endures today, marked by retail and wholesale bankruptcies, weak sales by surviving brands and a general consumer disinterest in spending on their homes.

Her bad timing continued when Gap Inc. brought in Mattel veteran Richard Dickson as its new CEO in 2023—less than a year later, Dickson announced Stangl’s exit without giving a lot of details. At the time, Banana Republic made no announcements on the fate of the home program, but denied that it would be discontinued. In May, as the entire BR brand was missing its comp store sales number by 4 percent, Gap Inc. stated in its first-quarter earnings report that “while the brand has been making progress elevating its aesthetic, reestablishing [it] will take time and there is work to be done to better execute many of the fundamentals.”

Now that work apparently includes eliminating furniture and lighting, with only bedding, bath and wall art remaining. The company has not yet announced Stangl’s successor (there’s no BR president listed on the website’s corporate leadership page). It seems to be more focused on its two larger nameplates—Old Navy and Gap—where it has recently registered some positive results.

Banana Republic’s latest home initiative was not the first time the brand has ventured into the category. In the early 2000s, it introduced soft-home merchandise like bedding and bath, showing the assortment in select stores. Shoehorned into clothing store–sized locations, the home line never really took off and was discontinued several years later, save for the occasional decorative pillow or throw. When home 2.0 was introduced, it was clear that online shoppers were seen as the primary source of sales.

Now, soft home is all that remains of this latest initiative. Until the overall home business picks up—most people think not until the second quarter of 2025—BR Home will likely be caught up in the same doldrums as the rest of the sector. For a company like Gap, trying to right itself and focus on its core business, that’s not necessarily a good place to be.

Update: October 11, 2024
This story has been updated to include a statement from Banana Republic parent company Gap Inc. confirming plans to wind down its furniture assortment and concentrate its home efforts on the soft goods category.

____________

Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.