L Brands to Close 250 Victoria’s Secret Stores In U.S. + Canada
The parent company also announced closure of some Bath & Body Works locations.
As if business wasn't hard enough for retail after the arrival of Amazon, now this pandemic has thrown a bigger wrench in the shopping gears. We were already seeing stores struggle and this just made things worse. Right on the heels of Peir 1 Imports closing all of their stores nationwide, we're seeing two others readjust their business strategy to stay afloat.
Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works.
Both brands are owned by L Brands who made the closing announcements on Wednesday, May 20. Although not all storefronts will be shuttered, Victoria's Secret will be closing 250 locations in the United States and Canada, while Bath & Body Works will close up shop at 50 locations, one of those being in Canada. Of the 250 closures for Victoria's Secret, 235 of them will be in the U.S. and three will be Pink stores. L Brands operated 1,091 stores before this announcement.
Forbes is reporting that the net sales for Victoria's Secret fell 46 percent in the first quarter of 2020. Sales for Bath & Body Works dipped 18 percent. While not much was disclosed about the future of both companies, interim CEO of Victoria's Secret Stuart Burgdoerfer did mention that more closings could come down the road.
This begs the question of how much you are shopping during this time?
I, for one, haven't spent like I have in the past. It's really not intentional. I'm just not out much and not in front of people so buying things like bath products or cute outfits doesn't seem necessary right now.