Gap (GPS) has long been struggling and with a dismal holiday season forcing them to restate their 
yearly earnings projections, there is talk that they might be up for sale soon.
According to this WashingtonPost.com article, Gap stores might be too pricey to be cheap chic but too cheap to be chic.
It's low-priced chain, Old Navy, has been failing against such competitors as Target (TGT) and H&M (HMRZF.PK) while Gap's higher-end division, Banana Republic, is barely surviving even as it trys to attract increasingly affluent shoppers.
Sales at new stores open at least a year, a key measure of success in retailing, have stayed flat in some even declining in all but two months since June 2004.
The Gap, named to reference the "generation gap" was founded in 1969 in San Francisco. Legendary chief executive Millard "Mickey" Drexler turned Gap into the retail giant it was until the mid-1990's. He then introduced Old Navy who did well catering to the whole family but then faltered as they focused on teens, known to be fickle, meanwhile alienating their older more loyal shoppers.
Drexler resigned in 2002 and Paul S. Pressler came on board recruited from Walt Disney Co. (DIS), with no experience running a retail chain.
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