London’s iconic Harrods has become the latest High Street victim of the coronavirus crisis as it will shut its doors to try to stem the outbreak.
The glamorous department store in Knightsbridge will temporarily close from 7pm in a move which shadows Selfridges on Oxford Street.
Retail giant Ikea as well as designer chains Michael Kors, Reiss and Abercrombie & Fitch have also shut as UK deaths from the virus hit 144.
Harrods’ Managing Director Michael Ward said: ‘The welfare of our community of colleagues, customers and partners has been our absolute priority throughout this time of uncertainty.
‘With this in mind, we have made the very difficult decision to close our doors from 7pm, Friday 20th March.’
London’s iconic Harrods (pictured) and Selfridges are the latest victims of the coronavirus crisis as they were forced to shut their doors to try to stem the outbreak
The Selfridges Oxford Street store has been closed as the coronavirus chaos hits the High Street
The High Street has taken a battering as the deadly coronavirus tightens its grip on Britain. Stores across the country are closing to stop the spread of the killer bug
Harrods boss ‘mocks coronavirus victims’
Michael Ward, 63, was filmed pretending to struggle for breath and coughing – the two main symptoms of the killer virus – as he says ‘I’m gonna die’ in a clip posted to social media.
Clutching an empty wine glass, Mr Ward dances in front of the camera alongside his daughter Frankie who made the film and posted it to TikTok
Clutching an empty wine glass, Mr Ward dances in front of the camera with daughter Frankie.
She wrote: ‘When your dad’s dying of coronavirus but you need a TikTok. Calm it hun.’
It comes hours after a shocking video emerged of store boss Michael Ward appearing to mock victims of the deadly coronavirus.
The 63-year-old was filmed pretending to struggle for breath and coughing – the two main symptoms of the virus – as he says ‘I’m gonna die’ in a clip posted on social media.
A spokesman for Harrods – which will keep open its Food Halls and pharmacy – said the store’s 5,000 staff would keep their jobs, adding: ‘Nobody is being laid off.’
Selfridges said it had closed ‘with a heavy heart’ in its effort to tackle the spiralling bug in London.
The city centre building was shut down from Wednesday – as was the company’s Birmingham and Manchester sites – but its website is trading.
Swedish furniture chain Ikea will temporarily put up the shutters in all its 22 stores in Britain from 6pm to try to stop the lethal virus spreading.
The firm made clear customers will still be able to order products online and have goods delivered.
Selfridges’ London building was shut down from Wednesday – following the company’s Birmingham (pictured) and Manchester sites – but its website is trading
Designer chains Michael Kors (pictured, its Regent Street store in London), Reiss and Abercrombie & Fitch shut up shop as UK deaths from the virus hit 144
This picture shows the companies store in Manchester completely abandoned on Thursday
Retail manager Peter Jelkeby said: ‘These are extraordinary times, and our priority is to ensure the health and safety of customers and co-workers.’
Capri Holdings Limited, which owns designer brands Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo and Versace, have temporarily closed stores in Europe and North America until April 10.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Idol said: ‘We are facing an unprecedented global pandemic.
‘Our first priority is to help protect our employees, consumers, partners and communities and to ensure we are doing our part to prevent the spread of COVID-19.’
There are 25 Michael Kors in the UK, but its website appears unaffected.
Reiss will be shutting its 90 shops in the UK, though it is not clear when and the firm could not be contacted for comment.
American lifestyle retailer Abercrombie & Fitch shut its doors across Europe from Monday, including its flagship London shop in Mayfair.
Its CEO Fran Horowitz said: ‘As I write this today, I want to emphasise the importance of the global issue, but also offer a sense of unwavering optimism for the future.
‘How we each respond at a time like this is a reflection of who we are and what we stand for.
‘At Abercrombie & Fitch Co. we will continue to put our customers first and offer complete transparency, because we’re all in this together.’
Dozens of retailers are struggling to cope with a sharp drop-off in sales as the public are being urged to stay home and self-isolate to stop the virus spreading.
Earlier this week, the UK Government announced a £320billion package of loans and injections of £20billion into firms that face going bust.
But business groups have since said more help is needed.
Restaurants and stores to shut yesterday had heeded calls for social distancing in populated parts of the UK.
Food outlets Zizzi and ASK Italian closed their sites temporarily as national restaurant chains start to shut in the face of the coronavirus outbreak.
Zizzi and ASK close all 308 UK restaurants. The Front entrance to Zizzi Italian Restaurant in London Street, Basingstoke
Azzurri Group, which runs the Italian chains as well as Coco di Mama, confirmed its 300-plus sites shut their doors yesterday.
Hospitality giant Whitbread is also set to temporarily close around 400 restaurant sites from tonight. The move will affect its chains such as Brewers Fayre, Beefeater and Bar + Block.
A host of other smaller restaurant groups have revealed closures, with Vietnamese brand Pho to focus on home delivery and Burger chain Byron is moving to delivery only.
Brasserie Blanc, along with Prezzo are shut, while Sushi restaurant chain Yo! will leave only 16 restaurants open and Itsu have moved to takeaway-only.
Gaucho, which has restaurants across the UK including locations in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, has announced it will be staying open.
Ask Italian will also close their sites temporarily. Stratford upon Avon branch pictured
Burberry has taken action in light of the growing pandemic with more than 60 per cent of its stores in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa closing as governments across several countries force high streets to shut their doors to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.
Spanish fashion giant Zara closed all its stores worldwide on Thursday after a partial closure on Wednesday.
Owner Inditex made the move just a day after it said UK stores would remain open.
Steve Holmes, chief executive officer of Azzurri, who own Zizzi and Ask Italian, among other restaurants, said the decision was made in light of the Government’s recommendation to avoid public meetings and with ‘deepest regret’.
He said: ‘For many of our people, this will mean not working until we can safely reopen our sites and this has been the hardest part of our decision.’
Burberry warned its store sales were likely to take a 30 per cent hit in the fourth quarter of the financial year, as 85 per cent of US stores closed.
Burberry’s move to close comes as more governments force stores to shut their doors due to the worsening pandemic
It warned more closures are expected in the coming days, even as trading improves in China where most of the company’s sites have reopened.
Chief executive Marco Gobbetti said: ‘Since our February update, the material negative effect of Covid-19 on luxury demand has intensified and is now impacting the industry in all regions.
‘Our primary concern is the global health emergency and we continue to take every precaution to help prevent the spread of the virus and ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees, partners and customers.
‘We are implementing mitigating actions to contain our costs and protect our financial position, underpinned by our strong balance sheet.
‘We remain confident in our strategy and the strength of our brand, and I am exceptionally proud of our teams’ resilience and commitment.’
Zara has now closed all of its stores after previously shutting only some of them Pictured: Zara store in Barcelona
Retail chain Next has warned it is preparing for a ‘significant’ trading downturn amid the pandemic as it revealed full-price sales have tumbled by 30 per cent in recent days.
The group said stress tests showed the business could ‘comfortably sustain’ more than £1 billion loss of sales over the full year – including sales declines of up to 100% in some weeks during the peak of the outbreak.
Online sales are likely to fare better than its 498 stores due to social distancing measures, but it gave a bleak outlook for future, as ‘people do not buy a new outfit to stay at home’.
The comments came as Next reported a better-than-expected 0.8 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £728.5 million for the year to January as overall full-price brand sales lifted 4 per cent.
Next chief executive Lord Simon Wolfson said: ‘When the pandemic first appeared in China, we assumed that the threat was to our supply chain.
Retail chain Next has warned it is preparing for a ‘significant’ trading downturn
‘It is now very clear that the risk to demand is by far the greatest challenge we face and we need to prepare for a significant downturn in sales for the duration of the pandemic.’
He added: ‘Online sales are likely to fare better than retail but will also suffer significant losses – people do not buy a new outfit to stay at home.’
Recent trading results have showed the toll taken on sales as Britain began to go into lockdown, with total sales swinging from a 2.1 per cent rise in the final week of January to an 8.8 per cent drop last week and 30 per cent plunge since Sunday.
It cautioned sales could even fall by 100 per cent for as long as a month in its worst case scenario, before gradually improving as the outbreak passes – leaving overall sales 53 per cent lower over the affected period.
But the group said this is seen as an ‘overly pessimistic’ sales scenario.
In the event of a prolonged closure period and no government assistance, Next cautioned it may be forced to take ‘radical’ action on wages to help cut costs.
But it hopes it can offset a severe trading hit by not requiring staff to work more than their contracted hours and, in the short term, not replacing leavers.
Inditex, the Spanish owner of Zara, warned the virus has had a ‘very significant impact’ on its operations.
Inditex, the Spanish owner of Zara, warned the virus has had a ‘very significant impact’ on its operations. Pictured: Its Oxford Street store in London
The group, which also runs other retailers including Pull & Bear and Bershka, made the shift to close all its stores after initially closing just some of its outlets in 39 markets across the globe.
It said it is currently ‘too early’ to quantify the future impact of the outbreak on its operations for the rest of the year, but it is ‘fully confident’ in the strength and flexibility of its business model.
Group sales tumbled by 24.1 per cent in the first two weeks of March as it was impacted by the raft of store closures.
It said it would therefore book a provision of 287million euros (£262.9million) as the outbreak reduces the value of its inventory for the spring/summer period.
Inditex also postponed its decision over whether to pay out a dividend until later in the year.
The update came as the retail giant reported a jump in sales and earnings for the year to January 31.
It said net sales increased by 8 per cent to 28.3 billion euros (£25.9billion) as it was boosted by a 23 per cent surge in online sales.
Meanwhile, the company’s earnings before tax and interest increased to 7.6 billion euros (£7billion) from 5.5 billion euros (£5billion) in the previous year.
Fashion retailer Superdry also said it has closed most of its European stores in the US and UK – where their outlets currently remain open – shopping visits were down by a quarter.
Beales announced its final 11 department stores will shut two weeks early after the outbreak meant trading took a nosedive.
A host of other smaller restaurant groups have also revealed closures, with Vietnamese brand Pho closing the doors of its 30 sites to focus on home delivery.
Burger chain Byron said it has also closed its operations to the public completely and is moving to delivery-only.
Brasserie Blanc, the chain of 17 French restaurants founded by TV chef Raymond Blanc, has also closed its operations completely for the near future.
Other chains, such as Itsu, have announced they have moved to takeaway-only models to reduce the time customers spend at their sites.
Sushi restaurant chain Yo! said that it had taken the decision to close 54 of its restaurants ‘for the time being’. The remaining 16 will remain open ‘while this is in our control’, but will offer restricted hours and a reduced menu.
Italian restaurant chain Prezzo announced it would temporarily close its restaurants. The move came after the government said people should avoid restaurants.
‘It was always going to be question of when, not if, we would need to close our doors for a time,’ the company said.
On Thursday, pub company Young & Co said it expects its pubs to close ‘at some point’, but is hopeful it will only be for a short period.
The group said its pubs will continue to operate ‘as we feel they offer local communities a place of sanctuary in these uncertain and worrying times’.
Brewer and pub group rival Shepherd Neame said it is ‘inevitable that trading will deteriorate rapidly’ as its sites continue to trade.
However, the company said it had suspended the collection of rent receipts from its pub tenants in a bid to support them during the testing period.