The Existence of the Banana Republic Store

Originally The Banana Republic was founded in 1969 as a travel-themed store; think of The Rain Forest Restaurant being made into a clothing store. There were extravagant decorations like Jeeps and fog machines that made shopping within the store a fun experience. However, the majority of their sales still came from catalog sales. The catalog of course only reinforced the store’s theme. Eventually in 1983 Gap Inc. bought the company and slightly changed the extravagant decorations. Every once in awhile The Banana Republic store is a refurbished historical building. So the next time you see a store on vacation stick your head in for a quick visit to find out if the store itself has any history.