Espirit to close all Australian stores

Vale.

Things aren’t looking great for Australian retail.

Espirit has announced it will close all Australian and New Zealand stores, amounting to 67 outlets in the region. According to reports, the brand is set to close the stores by the end of 2018.

The decision came after Espirit failed to turn around dwindling profits in the past year, with the area making up for 2% of global revenue.

“In order to strengthen our foundation, the Group intends to withdraw from these markets and this will allow us to concentrate efforts and resources to develop other markets in Asia,” executive director and group CFO Thomas Tang said in a statement.

It is not clear what will happen to the brand’s 350 employees.

esprit.com.au