No one is safe from store closures these days, as even top retailers like Walmart and Whole Foods have recently turned out the lights permanently at locations across the U.S. But while these retailers have cited individual poor performance at shuttered stores, other companies have started pursuing mass closures around the world to offset various challenges that have arisen in the past few years, such as staffing shortages, rising inflation, and safety issues. Now, another popular retailer has just announced that it is closing over 80 of its locations. Read on to find out how "extensive disruption" has led to another major closure.
READ THIS NEXT: These Major Clothing Stores Are Closing Locations, Starting July 18.
Many companies have announced mass closures over the past year.
ShutterstockMass company closures have hit a number of different retail sectors. In Nov. 2021, CVS announced that it was planning to close 900 stores by the end of 2024 a part of a major overhaul of its retail footprint. Then in May of this year, Starbucks decided to close 130 locations in Russia—a move made during the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine that ensures the popular coffee chain will "no longer have a brand presence" in the Russian market. Just this month, the used car and consignment dealer CarLotz closed nearly half of its total locations in the U.S. to "help improve the company's financial performance."
Now, another company has announced a large number of store closures at once.
Another company just closed over 80 stores.
iStockAlongside Starbucks, a different popular company has decided to pull its business from Russia. Lego just terminated its contract with the Inventive Retail Group (IRG), a franchisee that owned and operated 81 Lego stores in the country, Reuters reported. Lego will also lay off its 90 Moscow-based employees.
According to the news outlet, IRG confirmed on July 12 that the world's largest toymaker had ended its partnership. "Our company will continue to work as an expert in the toy design and development category," an IRG spokesperson told Reuters.
Lego said "extensive disruption" in Russia led to the decision.
ShutterstockLego's decision to indefinitely close its business in Russia seems to be the natural progression of changes it has already made. According to Reuters, the toymaker paused its shipments to Russia in March, and then in June, said it would be temporarily freezing business at some stores due to supply challenges. Now, "Lego has decided to indefinitely cease commercial operations in Russia given the continued extensive disruption in the operating environment," a spokesperson for Lego told the news outlet.
Other retailers have cut ties with Russian partners.
ShutterstockStarbucks and Lego are not the only two companies that have ended their business in Russia amid the country's invasion of Ukraine. In May, Nike also cut ties with IRG. The Russian franchisee was informed that the apparel company has chosen not to renew its agreements, which operated 37 Nike-branded stores in the country. The company also closed almost a hundred more stores in May that were not franchised, as Nike was operating about 116 locations in Russia as of March 2022.
"Nike has made the decision to leave the Russian marketplace," the company said in a statement to Reuters. "Our priority is to ensure we are fully supporting our employees while we responsibly scale down our operations over the coming months."
