Gap's CEO says people will emerge from pandemic isolation and start 'peacocking,' in what could be a boon for retailers

• Gap Inc. CEO said a "peacocking effect" will happen as Americans emerge from pandemic isolation.
• The firm expects sales to increase as consumers buy clothes to impress others, the WSJ reported.
• Gap Inc. announced it would close 350 Gap and Banana Republic stores by the end of 2023.

Gap has high hopes for the country to soon return to normalcy as vaccinations pick up.

Gap Inc. CEO Sonia Syngal said she expects sales to grow as consumers dress to impress others after months of decreased socializing.

"We're quite optimistic," Syngal said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "We do think there's going to be this peacocking effect that happens, as people emerge from Covid."

Gap appointed Syngal as chief executive in March 2020, months after former CEO Art Peck's sudden departure. Peck left the company after sales slumped in 2019 due to declining foot traffic from shopping malls.

Syngal, the former CEO of Old Navy, said she planned to grow Gap Inc. by investing in the firm's 60 million-person customer base to capitalize on a captive audience.

But the COVID-19 pandemic upended retail shortly after Syngal took over. As Americans avoided malls and spent more time shopping online, Gap Inc. announced it would close 350 Gap and Banana Republic stores in North America - or 30% of its total locations - by the end of 2023.

Syngal told The Journal that online holiday shopping helped offset some losses. The firm reported online sales increased to 45% of total sales in 2020, up from 25% the year prior.

The chief executive added the firm will cut back on costs spent on making stores "safer" during the pandemic as vaccines become more widely available.

President Joe Biden said he expects vaccines to become available for all Americans by May shortly after the Food nad Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson's shot. The Centers for Disease Control plans to release guidelines on activities vaccinated people can safely do, which include some indoor gatherings.

Some retailers are banking on consumers spending money on new clothes as they going out after getting vaccinated. The menswear brand Suitsupply released an ad titled "The new normal is coming" with a photo of naked models kissing.

"Post-pandemic life is on the horizon," Fokke de Jong, Suitsupply's founder and CEO, told Insider's Kate Taylor. "The campaign is simply a positive outlook on our future where people can get back to gathering and getting close."