400 stores closing

Signet to permanently close about 400 jewelry stores, including Zales, Kay and Jared

The largest jewelry retailer with 3,200 stores said sales through May 2 fell 40.5% during the coronavirus shutdowns.

https://dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arc...H7Z7ZD2U3E.jpg
Zales store at NorthPark Center in Dallas.(Staff / Maria Halkias)By Maria Halkias
10:20 AM on Jun 9, 2020

Like many U.S. retailers, Signet, the parent company of the largest mall-based jewelry stores, said the year started out great with a strong Valentine’s Day.

But then the pandemic’s forced closings led to a first-quarter loss of $291 million and a 40.5% sales decline to $852.1 million. Now the company says it will permanently close almost 400 stores.

The chain of 3,200 stores said about 150 stores in the U.S. and Canada and 80 in the UK that were temporarily closed during the pandemic won’t reopen. An additional 150 stores will close as leases are reviewed and negotiations with landlords continue.

Spokesman David Bouffard declined to say where the first stores are closing but confirmed that they are across the company’s brands.

The chain had closed more than 200 stores last year and 150 more in 2018.

The jewelry retailer, parent to Kay, Zales, Jared, H. Samuel, Peoples and Piercing Pagoda, pivoted to its e-commerce business when stores were forced to close due to the coronavirus, Signet chief executive officer Gina Drosos said.

But the distribution center for its main online brand, James Allen, was closed in New York during the stay-at-home orders. That slowed its e-commerce sales, which only increased 6.7% in the first three months of the year.

“We are gathering valuable insights on customer behaviors and plan to use these leanings to enhance our competitive advantage and emerge stronger from the crisis,” Drosos said.

Signet acquired Irving-based Zale Corp. in 2014 and put the fiercely competitive Zales and Kay Jewelers brands under the same corporate ownership. Some operations remained in Texas. A year ago, Signet moved its repair and manufacturing operation to Akron, Ohio, resulting in the elimination of 180 jobs at its Las Colinas office.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...kay-and-jared/