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Tag: closing

  • Yum China sales fall as pandemic impact worsens

    Yum China sales fall as pandemic impact worsens

    The owner of KFC and Pizza Hut said sales plunged by 20% in the first two weeks of March as a surge of new Covid cases spread across China.

    Yum China said “the situation has rapidly deteriorated” as regional lockdowns have been put in place to stem the outbreak.

    More than 1,100 of its stores are temporarily closed or offering takeaway and sales are “still trending down”.

    China’s lockdowns are among its biggest since the beginning of the pandemic.

    They include the Jilin province – home to companies such as carmakers Toyota and Volkswagen – as well as technology hub Shenzhen as the number of new infections of the Omicron variant of Covid rise.

    Yum China said: “Entering March, the situation has rapidly deteriorated with the highly transmissible Omicron variant causing outbreaks across China, including economically important regions of Guangdong, Shanghai, Shandong and Jilin.”

    It added: “Our operations are significantly impacted by the latest outbreaks and the tighter public health measures which resulted in a further reduction of social activities, travelling and consumption.”

    Toyota, Volkswagen and iPhone-maker Foxconn have been forced to close operations in affected regions due to lockdowns.

    Although Foxconn said on Wednesday it was able to restart some production in Shenzhen after putting in place a closed loop system on its campus. It means that Foxconn employees working in the space cannot move outside the group.

    Foxconn said: “This process, which can only be done on campuses that include both employee housing and production facilities, adheres to strict industry guidelines and closed-loop management policies issued by the Shenzhen government.”

    There are concerns the restrictions could have an impact on global supply chains.

    But Yum China’s chief executive Joey Wat, said: “Our robust supply chain management has shielded us from material business disruptions.”

    Yum China said it had more than doubled the number of stores it had closed or restricted to take-out services from 500 in January to 1,100 in March.

    Ms Wat pledged: “We will keep our restaurants open and provide food services to customers wherever it is possible and safe to do so.”

     

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  • Japan’s World Co closing 358 stores by March

    Japan’s World Co closing 358 stores by March

    Japanese apparel firm World Co is shuttering 358 outlets nationwide by March next year. The move is in response to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and will involve jettisoning five clothing brands owned by the parents firm – including unprofitable brands Aquagirl and Ozoc – and potentially more.

    The closure plan will involve implementing a voluntary early-retirement program for staff and around 200 layoffs.

    World Co has operated for more than 60 years within Japan and went into private ownership 16 years ago.

    The company is not the only Japanese apparel retailer to announce plans to scale back operations this year. Last month, rival Cecil McBee said it would shut down all of its physical outlets in the country. It said at the time it could not survive another outbreak with a period of store shutdowns.

    The firm’s 43 stores are closing consecutively throughout Japan, with final closures to be made by February next year.

  • Muji Japan moves online as Covid-19 crisis closes stores

    Muji Japan moves online as Covid-19 crisis closes stores

    Muji Japan has launched an online store on Amazon, strengthening its e-commerce presence as the Covid-19 crisis closes stores.

    According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the new Muji Japan online store will feature 250 items, mostly beauty products, storage containers, and cooking utensils.

    It is the first time Japan’s Ryohin Keikaku has sold Muji products via an online platform outside its own e-commerce store. With Amazon’s extensive user base, the company hopes to attract more potential customers.

    The launch with Amazon follows the closure of 280 physical stores across Japan and many others having to trade for reduced hours due to social-distancing requirements in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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  • Apple closing all stores worldwide outside China

    Apple closing all stores worldwide outside China

    Apple has closed all its stores outside of Greater China in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

    According to a company statement, all of Apple’s retail stores outside China will be closed until March 27 however, its online store and “Apple store” app remain open.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company’s experiences while trading in China earlier this year drove the decision.

    “One of those lessons is that the most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’s transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance,” the company said in the statement.

    Apple said in all its offices outside Greater China, it is moving to a “flexible work arrangement”, which means team members will work remotely if their job allows. All hourly workers will continue to be paid “in alignment with business-as-usual operations”.

    Apple shut down all its stores in Mainland China in early February when the country was heavily affected by the outbreak. Recently, it has progressively reopened stores and all 42 outlets in Mainland China have now resumed normal business.

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  • Bossini Taiwan stores will be closed before summmer

    Bossini Taiwan stores will be closed before summmer

    Hong Kong-headquartered apparel chain Bossini is to close down its Taiwan business, expecting to close all 51 stores by July 31.

    Chairman Bess Tsin said Bossini Taiwan will start discussions with landlords over terms for exiting leases early and all employees made redundant will be compensated as required by local laws.

    She expects the closure to result in one-off costs of HK$20 million (US$2.57 million), subject to the outcome of landlord negotiations.

    Bossini Taiwan was launched in 1992, an early foray into the Greater China market for the brand.

    “The decision to withdraw from the Taiwan market is a difficult one for the company,” said Tsin. “However, due to the continuing sluggish consumer market in Taiwan over the last two decades, Bossini Taiwan has been loss-making since the 2005/06 financial year.”

    Tsin said given the current challenging market conditions in Hong Kong and Mainland China, the board resolved yesterday that it was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to cease the Taiwan operations and focus its resources on its other major markets.

    Last month, Bossini revealed a loss of HK$93.7 million (US$12 million) during the six months to December – more than triple the $25.7 million loss of the same period a year earlier. Sales were down 20 percent to $699 million ($89.9 million).

    “The company and the board would like to express their greatest gratitude to the management and staff of the Taiwan division for their unwavering support to the group in the past years,” she said in a stock exchange filing.

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  • Laura Ashley fighting to Survive

    Laura Ashley fighting to Survive

    Struggling fashion & homewares chain Laura Ashley is seeking to borrow additional funding to stay afloat in the midst of a dispute with its lender.

    The firm’s Malaysian owner MUI Group is renegotiating its access to a £20 million (US$26 million) fund put up by Wells Fargo last October. As an asset-backed loan, the amount made available to the chain by the lender has dropped along with its stock value.

    MUI has stated it needs the financing to “meet the group’s immediate funding requirements and to draw down additional amounts to meet ongoing working capital needs”.

    The firm has had a rough financial year, with figures showing a 10.8-per-cent drop in sales in the first half compared to last year’s results following a drop in consumer spending.

    “We acknowledge that recent trading conditions, in line with the overall UK retail market, have indeed been challenging,” said MUI chairman Andrew Khoo. “There is however a robust plan in place to turn the business around … The major shareholders have indicated their continued confidence in the business and are fully supportive of the management team and the execution of the transformation plan.”

    The firm will consider “all appropriate options” should talks regarding the funding break down.

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  • Stores close, jobs shed as Hong Kong retailers survive downturn

    Stores close, jobs shed as Hong Kong retailers survive downturn

    Thousands of stores will close and 5600 jobs will be lost as Hong Kong retailers try to recover from a “severe” sales decline brought on by social unrest and declining mainland visitor numbers, according to a survey by the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.

    Conducted between October 29 and November 22, the survey revealed that 97 per cent of retailers polled have recorded losses since the protest activities began in June with the vast majority of those describing their losses as “heavy” or above moderate.

    The HKRMA said retailers planned to lay off staff if trading conditions did not improve. Based on survey responses, the association calculated that with some 270,000 people working for Hong Kong retailers currently, cuts “may exceed 5600 in the next six months”. And with 64,000 retail outlets currently operating in Hong Kong, as many as 7000 retail stores may close.

    Some companies have stated that even if they have not reached a severe level of trade decline, they anticipate closing stores within the next six months.

    The HKRMA urged shop owners to offer different rents to their retail tenants according to the degree of loss of the shop. Rent and staff costs are the biggest expenses retailers face in doing business and would naturally be the first to need adjusting to maintain commercial viability.

    Chairman Xie Qiu Anyi said rent reductions of 30 per cent were required to provide a lifeline to retailers.

    “All stakeholders need to support the retail industry in the future,” she said in a statement translated from Chinese. Currently, 80 per cent of survey respondents reported inadequate rent relief from landlords.

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  • Miniso Hong Kong shutters retail stores

    Miniso Hong Kong shutters retail stores

    Miniso Hong Kong has shuttered all of its 50 stores since November 14 citing ongoing protest action – and reportedly won’t be paying staff for the week.

    A leaked internal memo was sent to staff advising them of a seven-day closure and giving them just one day’s notice. According to Apple Daily, the decision was made on the basis of ensuring “employee’s safety”. However, staff members will not be paid for the enforced week off and any days of leave requested and falling due over the period will still be deducted from leave due.

    Miniso Hong Kong is one of the retailers listed by the protest movement which supporters have been asked to boycott. Store brands on the list have been targeted by protestors and graffitied for being China-owned.

    Miniso Hong Kong had already attracted negative consumer sentiment since its launch in the territory, being dubbed a ‘China copycat’ of Japanese labels Muji and Uniqlo, all the while trying to position itself in the market as a Japanese design store.

    During ongoing protests, activists have identified and categorized retailers as ‘blue’ or ‘yellow’ with the majority of the latter being supported as independent local businesses, versus pro-China large corporate chain stores.

    Whilst protestors have been actively boycotting businesses, some chains such as grocer Best Mart 360, have been vandalized. In Best Mart’s case, protestors allege the CEO is associated with the federation behind the Fujian triad gangs which have attacked Hong Kong citizens protesting against the government.

    Another company impacted is Maxim’s Group, a part-owned subsidiary of Dairy Farm International, picked on after Maxim’s founder’s daughter Pansy Ho repeatedly denounced protestors and labelled them rioters. Ho has no management role with Maxim’s Group.

    The company operates the Starbucks franchise in Hong Kong and a number of outlets have been vandalised, including one in Jordan yesterday.

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  • Hong Kong retailers may close as protests impact sales

    Hong Kong retailers may close as protests impact sales

    “Dozens” of smaller Hong Kong retailers may be forced to close their doors as ongoing protests – now into their 15th week – impact trade.

    The Hong Kong Retail Management Association has repeatedly been warning of critical impact on the retail sector as store owners in areas frequently hosting protests have had to shutter their shops for safety reasons.

    Now, the South China Morning Post has reported that “several dozen small retailers are likely to shut shop as soon as the end of this month” because overseas shoppers have been deterred from entering Hong Kong by news of protest activity.

    Alexa Chow Yee-ping, MD of AMAC Human Resources, told the SCMP her clients were considering laying off staff to keep afloat.

    “It is just too hard to survive,” she told the paper, saying she feared “thousands of layoffs”.

    Annie Yau Tse, chairman of the HKRMA said last month that damage to retail business has directly impacted the frontline staff’s take-home income. “Some member companies reported that their staff’s income, which is paid on a commission basis, has also declined accordingly because of the tremendous sales drop caused by significant business disruptions,” she said in a message posted on the association’s website.

    “Furthermore, retail-related industries, such as the import and export trade, wholesale, transportation and storage sectors, will also suffer from the subdued retail market.”

    Tse was commenting after the release of June’s retail sales data for Hong Kong, which showed a 6.7 decline year on year. Since then July figures have shown an 11.4-per-cent drop. There is a widespread expectation that sales in August will be down even further, given 851,000 fewer passengers used Hong Kong International Airport and the number of mainlanders entering through land-based border crossings continues to decline while the protests roll on.

    The HKRMA has called on landlords to extend relief to embattled retailers given the circumstances.

    “As the recent incidents have made an immediate and profound impact on the retail industry, the Association has issued a letter to call for all landlords to collaborate at these critical moments by offering rental and management fee relief measures,” Tse wrote.

    “Facing such an unprecedented crisis, retailers are in critical need of the support from our stakeholders to sail through the challenges without going out of business or cutting headcount.”

  • Zara in defense mode after IFC mall store closure

    Zara in defense mode after IFC mall store closure

    Fashion retailer Zara has reassured customers that its decision to close its IFC mall store in Hong Kong on Monday was not related to protests currently taking place in the city.

    The statement emerged after social media users in Mainland China speculated that the store closures were a show of support for the demonstrators and to allow staff to participate.

    “Zara has never made any comments or undertaken any actions related to a strike in Hong Kong,” read the firm’s statement on its Weibo account. “Zara does not back a strike and supports ‘one country, two systems’.”

    The controversy was sparked after an image of a sign posted on the IFC mall store’s shutters was circulated online, apparently going viral.

    Major businesses have come under close scrutiny for their actual or suspected support of the protestors, including Cathay Pacific, HSBC and PWC.

    The protests have been held in the city over the past three months, and have become seen as a challenge to Beijing’s sovereignty over the territory.

    Zara has declined to offer any explanation as to why the majority of its Hong Kong island stores were closed during the time in question.

    However, the store reopened yesterday with new interior design to coincide with the opening of the Sephora store in a space carved out of Zara’s previous footprint in the mall.

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  • Parkson closes Puchong store after just 18 months

    Parkson closes Puchong store after just 18 months

    Malaysian department store operator Parkson has closed its store in Puchong just 18 months after it opened.

    The closure follows its exit from Suria KLCC in downtown Kuala Lumpur after 20 years.

    A Parkson spokesperson said the Puchong store had not met sales expectations.

    “The retail market is very dynamic. Store openings and closures are part and parcel of our business. In Malaysia, shopping malls are mushrooming everywhere and the demographics are ever-changing. Understandably, we are always cautious and selective when choosing new store locations. However when sales do not meet expectations, we have to cut losses and move on,” the spokesman said.

    The Parkson Puchong store was located in M Square Mall at Millenia City. It opened in January last year, with 32,516sqm of retail space.

    While store closures appear to be an ongoing story within Parkson – it has shuttered multiple stores in Vietnam as well during the last two years – there are some positives to be taken from the company’s recent results. In the nine months to March 31, the company achieved sales growth above 5 percent – double the rate of Malaysia’s department-store sector, according to Malaysia Retailers Association data.

    Despite store closures, revenue in the March quarter rose by 2 percent year on year to RM788 million (US$187 million).

    Parkson currently operates 43 stores, one more than it had in 2015 but two fewer than in 2017.

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  • Gucci store closed after staff Measles

    Gucci store closed after staff Measles

    Gucci’s Harbour City store has been closed for disinfecting after three staff members fell ill with measles within the last week.

    A Harbour City spokeswoman told that store staff advised mall management about the infections last evening and the Canton Road store was closed early.  Gucci’s office at Ocean Centre has also been closed.

    “We are carrying out thorough disinfection and extra cleaning throughout the mall,” the spokeswoman said. “The two washrooms near the store have also been temporarily suspended for disinfection and cleaning.”

    Hong Kong health officials are on high alert as the territory has witnessed a rapid escalation in the number of measles cases reported in recent weeks. Last year, 15 people were reported to have contracted the highly infectious disease, but already this year there have been 73 cases, including 29 people working at Hong Kong International Airport.

    According to the SCMP, the first Gucci staff member, a male aged 30, became ill last Tuesday after flying to Tokyo. He is now back in Hong Kong and recovering in hospital.

    The second and third victims, both women aged 25, have since developed symptoms and are also recovering in hospital.

    The incubation period of measles lasts from seven to 21 days before symptoms are obvious.

    None of the three staff had worked at other Gucci shops and none of their family members have developed symptoms.

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  • Marks & Spencer’s China stores risk closure

    Marks & Spencer’s China stores risk closure

    Marks & Spencer is reportedly due to announce the closure of some of its Chinese shops when it releases its trading update next week.

    There is speculation that chief executive Steve Rowe will reveal his plans to help bring the department store chain back into business when the company’s half-year results are published.

    M&S currently has 10 stores in China, and according to Bloomberg some of them could be in the firing line.

    The news comes just a week after speculation that M&S’ Paris flagship would also close down, as part of Rowe’s plans to move away from loss-making international operations.

    The department store chain will reveal its interim results on November 8.

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  • RIP Ensogo Asia shuts down sites

    RIP Ensogo Asia shuts down sites

    Ensogo Asia has closed down all of its online stores as the online retailer appears on the brink of collapse.

    Following the resignation of its co-founder Kris Marszalek, the Singapore-based tech company said it will cut its financial support to its sales and marketplace business units in Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

    “These business units will be shut down. All staff have been informed and communications will be made to customers in the coming days,” the company said in a statement.

    Australian internet entrepreneur Patrick Grove founded Ensogo, formerly iBuy. Grove also established the online businesses iProperty and iCar under Catcha Group.

    Recently the company reported growth averaging more than 100 per cent in the first quarter, after the launch of a cross-border marketplace business in January. It said the number of suppliers had skyrocketed from 3141 in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 13,599 in the first quarter of 2016. The first three months saw US$8.2 million in gross merchandise value.

    As of the end of March 2016, however, Ensogo reported A$22.6 million (about US$17 million) in receipts from customers, while total cash was only A$17.6 million, a 64 per cent decline from A$29 million by the end of last year. Earlier this year the company, which is headquartered in Singapore and listed in Australia, laid off employees.

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  • Parkway Parade retail mall closed ’till further notice’ after fire

    Parkway Parade retail mall closed ’till further notice’ after fire

    Parkway Parade shopping mall, one of the most popular in the east, will remain closed until further notice, after a fire broke out in a store late on last Sunday night.

    While the retail mall remains closed as the management continues checks and rectification works, the office tower and banks on level one will be open today, as they were yesterday, said Parkway Parade.

    Apologising for the inconvenience, the mall added that its carpark will also be closed today until further notice. The mall did not give a reason for the closure.

    The Straits Times understands that the fire broke out in Fox Kids and Baby, a clothing store on the second floor of the Marine Parade mall.

    The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire close to midnight. Upon arrival, officers located the blaze in a storeroom, entered by force and put out the flames with a water jet.

    There were no reported injuries and no evacuation was conducted.

    A spokesman for Wing Tai, which distributes the Fox brand here, said it is looking into what happened.

    A burnt smell lingered in the air inside the mall at about noon yesterday. Workers in safety helmets were seen coming out of the building.

    Staff at the entrance told arriving shoppers that the mall was closed for the day. More than 50 people were seen outside an entrance. Some said they had been waiting for hours for more information.

    One of them, Madam Jenny Ong, 52, who works at a second-floor outlet, said she arrived at 10am. She was told about the fire and that the mall would reopen at noon. She and two others who work on the same floor found out about the closure only when they returned two hours later.

    She said: “I was worried that it was my shop, a children’s clothing shop on the second level.”

    Madam Margaret Chia, 68, a part-time retail assistant at department store Isetan, said: “We received a call in the morning telling us not to come, but we came anyway… We are worried, we heard that the store had been drenched.”

    A 40-year-old housewife, who declined to be named, said the mall was dark and the stores were closed when she arrived in the morning to buy groceries. She said: “People had been waiting for hours. They should have told us it was not going to open (by noon).”

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