Banana Republic to Add Santa Monica Flagship

On Santa Monica’s popular Third Street Promenade, where national chains frequently jockey for sites, the latest development is a new Banana Republic store.

The chain already has a Third Street store, but it plans to convert a large Promenade building, a site formerly used by J.C. Penney, into a flagship store. The existing Banana Republic store is one of the chain’s top stores, and the chain decided Santa Monica could support a larger store.

Banana Republic, a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Gap Inc. has six other flagships. The Santa Monica flagship will stock a broader and deeper inventory--furnishings for kitchen, bedroom and bathroom--as well as apparel.

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George White can be reached via e-mail at george.white@latimes.com.