General
Belgian outdoor specialist AS Adventure is planning to close an unspecified number of stores of its British subsidiaries Cotswold Outdoor and possibly Snow & Rock, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
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Fashion
After the departure of River Island, New Look is the latest fashion chain to leave Belgium. The British company has filed for bankruptcy for its Belgian activities. New Look only has six stores left in the country.
British fashion chain River Island River Island has announced it will close all its stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. All the stores would already close their doors this spring.
Property
Since various British retailers were forced to close outlets or even went bankrupt in the past few years, shopping malls are getting into trouble as well: they are trapped in a downward spiral.
Furniture
Ikea's city centre shops are not proving to be successful: in Norway, the Swedish chain is closing three such locations as profits are falling and cost cutting measures are necessary.
Dutch streetwear chain Men At Work has been declared bankrupt after a short struggle: last Friday the chain closed its web shop, but kept its physical stores open. The bankruptcy only affects the Dutch stores though, it is as of yet unclear how the Belgian stores will fare.
Food
Carrefour has not found a buyer for hundreds of its former Dia stores in France yet. That may force nearly 230 stores to shut down.
Carpetright, caught in a downward spiral in the past year, will shut down a fifth of its stores in Great Britain in order to remain afloat. 300 people will subsequently lose their job.
Adidas wants to focus more in online sales and that is why it will shut down a large number of stores worldwide.
The definitive end is approaching for the former toy store giant, Toys “R” Us. After the death sentence was signed for its 100 British stores, its American store network will also shut down.
High stock volumes and fewer shoppers have impacted H&M's turnover negatively as it remained far below expectations. The fashion group will shut down 170 stores in 2018 and instead will launch a outlet formula called Afound.
Fashion chain C&A will sell thirteen of its 160 French stores. The locations and the staff will all transfer to French fashion chain Chaussea and Stokomani.
Pressured by the ever-growing online competition and a huge debt, BCBG Max Azria Group will execute a restructuring plan. It is unclear how many of the 570 stores worldwide, including 3 in the Benelux, will remain open.
