The Children’s Place To Close Over 300 Stores
The Children’s Place is one of the largest children’s apparel retailers in North America with 920 stores plus, online and some international properties. They have announced they plan to close as many as 625 stores with around 200 stores expected to close by the end of 2020, with an additional 100 brick & mortar locations to close in 2021.
Several factors have come into play including losses tied to the pandemic and the company also cited an increase in e-commerce has influenced their decision to close many stand alone store locations. Currently there is no confirmation if any of the 3 retail operations in Maine will reopen or be effected by permanent closure.
"On March 18, 2020, the Company suspended all store operations in the U.S. and Canada until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Children’s Place started reopening stores on May 19, 2020 in 10 states. The Company intends to continue to reopen stores on a phased timeline, as state and local guidelines and conditions permit, taking an informed, measured approach based on a number of factors. As of June 8, 2020, The Children’s Place had 61 stores open to the public in the U.S. and Canada."
President and Chief Executive Officer, Jane Elfers described some of the challenges that face the future for The Children's Shop. However, she is also quite optimistic for the potential upside of changing the company focus.
“Although we are facing a period of uncertainty regarding the future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Children’s Place is moving swiftly and decisively to proactively address these challenges. In an effort to structurally position the company for continued success, we are significantly accelerating our fleet optimization initiative, and focusing our resources on accelerating our digital sales"