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Tag: shutter

  • 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.

  • Ford to Shutter Operations in Japan, Indonesia

    Ford to Shutter Operations in Japan, Indonesia

    After pursuing “every possible option,” global auto giant Ford Motor Co. has said decided to close down all operations in Japan and Indonesia by the end of this year.

    “It has become clear that there is no path to sustained profitability, nor will there be an acceptable return over time from our investments in Japan or Indonesia,” said Karen Hampton, Ford’s Asia Pacific spokeswoman, in a statement.

    The company, she said, is committed to restructuring parts of its business that “have no reasonable path to achieve sales growth,” adding that Ford will provide ongoing support in both countries to customers for service, spare parts, and warranties.

    Industry-wide sales, even among domestic auto makers, in both Indonesia and Japan slumped in each of the last two years. Domestic automakers sold about five million vehicles in Japan last year with foreign brands holding less than six percent market share there.

    Ford's operations in Indonesia involved shipments of export cargo and import cargo in international trade.

    “In Indonesia, it was difficult for Ford to compete without local manufacturing and vehicles to sell in key market segments,” Ford spokesman Neal McCarthy told the Associated Press.

    The company, he said, has restructured its business there, but still has less than one percent of the market with “no reasonable path to sustained profitability,”

    The Ford retreat follows in the wake of rival GM’s closure last year of its manufacturing plant in Indonesia, the largest auto market in Southeast Asia.

    The GM plant was originally opened in 1995, but closed between 2005 and 2013, when it reopened with a $150 million investment.

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