American retailer Gap plans to gain a larger share of the apparel market in Hong Kong and China’s mainland with 20 new store openings planned for the next six months.

The expansion rate is almost equivalent to one new store per week.

“(China) is a market for us in terms of international expansion. It’s a cornerstone market where Gap must be,” said Redmond Yeung, Gap’s president for greater China.

The roll-out will take Gap’s store count in China and Hong Kong to 45.

The company’s expansion into Asia underlines the company’s effort to seek growth outside the US and Europe where it suffers from decreased consumer spending due to slow economic recovery and debt crisis.

Gap plans to add 1500 new jobs in China, where it currently has around 2000 staff, to support its expansion plans.

“In mainland China, our consumers are growing so fast. I think that means there’s still a lot of room for us to grow,” Yeung said.

Yeung also added that the rapid expansion the company will be seeing in the next six months demonstrates its strong performance in China.

“If you look at the next six months, at that speed, without reasonable success, no one will invest (in more stores) so I can tell we are very happy with the performance of our stores,” he said.

GB