Fashion chain Animal is to close its 21 UK stores putting 500 jobs at risk after blaming ‘extremely challenging’ retail market ‘further worsened’ by coronavirus
- Poole-based fashion retailer Animal will close down permanently in January
- The firm, which sells surf inspired clothes and accessories, was founded in 1987
- The company employs almost 500 people directly whose jobs are at risk
- Animal’s owners H Young Holdings said Animal was losing money for a long time
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
UK fashion retailer Animal is closing its 21 stores putting up to 500 jobs at risk.
The company, which sells surfing-inspired clothing, has blamed the ‘extremely challenging’ retail marked which has been made considerably more difficult.
The company, which is based in Poole, Dorset, has announced it close permanently in January.
Fashion retailer Animal will close down permanently in January after its owners H Young Holdings Ltd confirmed the business was losing money and they were unable to find a buyer or a way to return it to profitability
The brand, which is based in Poole, Dorset, was established in 1987. The owners blamed the challenging retail environment combined with the impact of coronavirus
The brand is owned by H Young Holdings who told staff the business was losing money and attempts to save or sell it had failed.
The Animal brand was established in 1987.
According to the BBC, H Young Holdings said in a statement: ‘As a result of the extremely challenging retail market which has now further worsened due to Covid-19, H Young announces it will be closing its Animal business by the end of January 2021.
‘This will obviously be a very sad announcement for all Animal’s hardworking employees and its loyal customers.
Earlier this month, high street retailer Debenhams announced it was closing seven stores with the loss of 422 jobs after going into administration.
The department store firm said it has agreed terms with landlords to continue trading at 120 of its 142 UK stores.
It is understood the group is in ongoing talks over the remaining stores and is confident more deals will be secured in the coming days.
Debenhams confirmed that it failed to reach agreement with landlords regarding seven stores which will not re-open after the current lockdown.
As the High Street faces major disruption, online retailers are reporting massive increases in trade.
Online fashion retailer Boohoo has said it suffered a ‘marked’ fall in sales last month as the coronavirus crisis struck, but revealed a swift rebound in April as it outshines hard-hit high street rivals.
The group – which also owns brands including PrettyLittleThing and NastyGal – said the recent Covid-19 events overshadowed a ‘great’ financial year, with sales falling sharply year-on-year last month.
But the firm stressed it is seeing improved year-on-year growth of group sales during April thanks to a recent bounce-back.
Caroline Gulliver, an equity analyst at Jefferies, said Boohoo had ‘once again exceeded expectations’ with its full-year figures.
‘Encouragingly, Boohoo has continued to grow sales in March/April as the company has adapted to the Covid-19-impacted environment,’ she added.