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Photo by Jim Craven Deanne Neyrey, left, and 5-year-old friend Noell Sanchez take a peek through the paper-covered doors of the new Gap store, which opened quietly Thursday at the Rogue Valley Mall. Eager shoppers fall into new Gap BY JONEL ALECCIA As far as Stacey Swanson is concerned, the opening of the Rogue Valley Mall's newest retailer Thursday filled more than a little Gap in her life. "I am stoked! I am so stoked!" crowed the Medford mother of four. "This is my store. I make my husband go out of town just so we can go to the Gap!" With that, Swanson, 38, pushed her stroller through a small crowd gathered for the secret "soft" opening of the national clothing chain's first local store. The official debut is scheduled for 10 a.m. today, when store personnel expect an onslaught of shoppers. "It'll be nuts," said Jennifer Wilkinson, new manager of the new store. "There's just no telling how many people will show." For weeks, callers have been flooding the mall's information center with questions about the Gap's arrival. "It's the first call in the morning," said Karen Meade, customer service coordinator. "They want to know `When is it going to open' and `How do I get a job?"' The Medford site is the firm's 2,560th outlet for chinos, jeans and kids' clothes. It combines Baby Gap and Gap Kids stores with adult offerings in a retail experience that has long been lacking. Just ask local shoppers. "I've been waiting for five years to have a Gap, and not for myself," said Kim Sanchez, 36, of Medford. "I have three kids and now I don't have to drive to San Francisco to shop." Sanchez joined ranks of stroller-pushing moms who crowded the sale racks in the Baby Gap section. JoeAnn Johnson of Medford picked up a red canvas baseball hat and a gray T-shirt for her 18-month-old grandson, Drake Repp, and heaved a shopper's sigh of relief. "This will be a big difference," she said. "We've always gone to Eugene." In fact, the Medford store is modeled on the Eugene site in Valley River Center, said Gary Gillard, Gap district manager. Moms and kids eagerly browse the merchandise in the new Gap store at the Rogue Valley Mall Thursday. In its first months, it will carry a transitional line of summer-to-fall clothing, with a full stock of Gap offerings. The local store undoubtedly will boost earnings for the firm, which logged $780 million chain-wide in May alone. Gillard acknowledged that local shoppers seemed especially eager for the new site. "What took so long? I think it's just the demographics," he said, adding that the Rogue Valley's customer base now appears to support such a store. That's encouraging news to Dean Cropper of Ashland, whose son, Taylor, was chosen from a pool of 1,000 area applicants to staff the store. "It's surprising how much retail there is now in Medford," said Cropper, who moved to the Rogue Valley 13 years ago. "For stores like Miller's Outpost and the Gap to come in is a good sign. They show up if they feel like an area is viable." Most shoppers weren't concerned about retail viability on Thursday, however. Most were like Danette Price, 28, of Medford, who discovered the Gap was open already on a break from work. "My sister-in-law will be so excited!" Price said, snagging a tiny pair of denim shorts for one of her three children. "I'll have to go home and call her." Outside the store, Medford school board member Dennis Hoffbuhr happened by just in time for the low-key opening. "They did a good job of keeping it a secret or there'd be a big line," he observed. Hoffbuhr managed to contain his excitement about the opening, but he did concede its significance. "It's another milestone in Medford," he said. "Now we have a Gap." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA