Zara owner to close up to 1,200 of its stores around the world

Owners of Zara, Inditex, have announced it will be closing up to 1,200 stores across the globe over the next two years.

Inditex, which also own Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull & Bear, set aside a €2.7bn plan to encourage online sales throughout the global lockdown. It has also planned on shifting its focus to its larger stores over the next three years.

There are 7,419 stores worldwide and the Spanish group has lost €409 million in the first quarter of this year, taking a €308 million hit from store closures alone. 

Most of the stores won’t be the really popular brand Zara, and instead will be the shops that are ‘near the end of their useful life’.

Stock hasn’t been too big of a problem for the Group as a whole with the balance sheet falling only by 10% compared to last year. 

Analysts have attributed this to its ability to respond quickly to demand, meaning there isn’t a huge mountain of clothing that hasn’t sold and therefore requires a massive sale. 

So, we might lose a couple of Zara stores across the globe but most of the stores being forced to close are from Inditex’s other brands and unfortunately, Zara fans who have kept shopping online throughout lockdown, shouldn’t be looking forward to a massive sale. 

Inditex has also said most markets will reopen with social distancing in place.

Throughout lockdown, Zara’s online stores have become quite the trending topic due to the editorial style pictures of clothes and how difficult this makes it to shop on the site.

Loads of people across social media have attempted recreating some of the pretty weird poses, including standing on the oven or perched on a giant bookcase.