ZEENAT MOORAD: More pain in store for retailers
Retail globally is in a state of upheaval. In the past three years there’s been a record number of store closings and bankruptcy filings
A bad week for international retail, then. UK retailer Poundworld has fallen into administration after its rescue plan failed, putting 5,100 jobs at risk. Department store chain House of Fraser is to close 31 of its 59 shops, affecting 6,000 jobs — in a further blow for Britain’s struggling High Street. Across the Atlantic, Hudson’s Bay Co, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, says it will close as many as 10 Lord & Taylor stores — including its 104-year-old Manhattan location. Are these retailers running into trouble for the same reason? Yes. And no. They’ve all been hit by the usual suspects: weaker consumer confidence, an increasingly competitive market, the shift to online shopping and high product cost inflation. This, then, has meant underperforming shops. Also, what we’re seeing in not only these two markets, but others as well, is that retailers overexpanded during the boom years. Where the trio’s crises differ is around weakness of the pound (in Poundworld’s case), losing releva...
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