Coronavirus: Primark and B&Q owners start closing mainland European stores
Discount clothing retailer Primark – which trades here as Penneys – has closed a vast chunk of its European store network; effectively shutting off 30% of its sales channel in the process.
The continued spread of the coronavirus – particularly in Italy, France, Spain and Austria – has led to Primark shutting 20% of its selling space.
The retailer had expected £190m (€210m) worth of sales from those stores over the next month. The company has not closed any of its Irish stores as yet.
However, Primark said the remainder of its retail network that remains open has seen like-for-like sales declines in the last two weeks.
Meanwhile, B&Q owner Kingfisher has closed all 221 of its Castorama and Brico Depot stores in France until April 14 and its 28 stores in Spain until March 29.
Kingfisher’s remaining over 1,100 stores across Ireland, the UK, Poland, Romania, Portugal and Russia remain open.
Apple has also closed all of its retail stores, except those in Greater China.
Here, numerous insurers are accepting soft copy documentation for insurance policies to mitigate delays.
