Gap Inc. distribution center shut down after fire

By Tonya Garcia

Published: Aug 30, 2016 5:34 p.m. ETGap Inc. GPS, -1.85% confirmed on Tuesday that a fire Monday night has shut down the company's distribution center in Fishkill, N.Y. All employees who had been at the facility were safely evacuated, according to the Gap. "While it will take time to understand the full impact and cause of the fire, we have contingency plans in place and are working across our North American network of distribution centers to continue to serve our customers," Gap spokesperson Debbie Felix said in a statement. Analysts at Wells Fargo say the event creates uncertainty. "[W]e would be concerned that this could create a meaningful bottleneck [given] the upcoming critical holiday season," Wells Fargo wrote in a brief Tuesday note. "On top of that, this disruption to their supply chain could require incremental shipping, storage and distribution costs, in addition to any write-downs of damaged inventory and the cost of the property damage." Gap shares are flat in after-hours trading, but closed down 4.3%. Gap stock is down 22.8% for the past year while the S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.24% is up 9.4% for the same period.