Guess plans to close 100 stores worldwide

The U.S. retailer plans to close a tenth of all retail outlets within 18 months.

Guess has become one of the retailers significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the shutdown of stores around the world, sales in the first quarter fell by 50% to $260 million (in the first quarter of 2019 this figure was $536 million).

The company was forced to send in unpaid vacations for store employees and half of its office staff. Guess also had to make significant salary cuts and cancel all expenses that were not deemed critical to the company’s operations. 

In April, Guess stopped paying rent and began negotiations with landlords to revise rental rates in the wake of the pandemic. According to the company’s CEO Carlos Alberini, many retailers’ leases are about to expire, leading to the company revising the terms of the lease.

As a result of negotiations with the landlords and will be decided on the closure of retail outlets. Guess’ management is optimistic and believes that out of the total number of 1169 stores the company will close only about 100. On the rest, most likely, it will be possible to reach an agreement with the landlords. According to Alberini, “the company’s portfolio of stores around the world can be optimized to increase profitability”. Most of the stores scheduled for closure are located in North America and China.