PARIS — H&M is the latest name to join the growing list of shuttered stores due to coronavirus concerns.
On March 17, the group announced the temporary closure of all stores in Germany, currently at 460, in compliance with decisions made by the German authorities. These closures will be effective from March 18, with no stated reopening date.
Stores in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Portugal and Belgium will also shut their doors for a two-week period starting March 18.
On March 16, the H&M group had already announced the closure of all its stores in Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belgium, France, Austria, Luxembourg, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Kazakhstan, and partly in Greece.
Europe, where the H&M group counts more than 3,000 stores compared to less than 2,000 elsewhere in the world, is the Swedish company’s biggest market.
“Great emphasis is being placed on adjusting buying and inventory levels going forward,” it said in a statement.
The group also announced that 500 out of the 516 stores in China have now re-opened, and that sales in China have gradually started to recover.
All the company’s digital sales channels remain active.