Gap's same store sales slide 6% in April, 11% for quarter

Gap Inc.'s sales rose by 1 percent in April, but its same store sales fell 6 percent.

Same store sales are an important retail measurement -- they compare performance only at stores open at least a year.

The San Francisco clothing seller (NYSE: GPS) had sales of $1.10 billion during the four weeks ended May 3, compared with sales of $1.09 billion in April 2007.

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By division, same store sales were flat at Gap North America and Banana Republic (which has lately been the company's best-performing division), while they fell 12 percent at Old Navy. International same store sales fell 7 percent in April.

For the quarter ended May 3, Gap's sales fell to $3.38 billion, down from $3.55 billion in the same quarter last year. Same store sales fell 11 percent in the quarter.