Pier 1 Store Closures Caused by Low Sales And Poor Margins
Pier 1 imports will be closing down 57 stores by the end of the year.
This closure number is up by 12 stores from what was estimated in April. The chain store deals in the sale of home decor, furniture, accessories, and other home furnishings.
The Texas-based retailer is closing stores where there is no landlord participation. Further, those centers which are unable to meet goals and sales targets will be closing down, says the company.
The company intends to bring about a closure of about 15 percent of the company’s portfolio, says CEO Cheryl Bachelder. A 15 percent cut would mean that there would be a further closure of 145 stores.
According to data, Pier 1 has about 965 stores across the United States and Canada. The loss for the first quarter is at $81.7 million while in 2018 loss was at $28.5 million.
Sales have fallen from $371.9 million in 2018 to $314.3 million this year. For this quarter, total sales have fallen by 15.5 percent.
While speaking about the impact of China tariffs on sales, Bachelder says that they had proactively planned for the 25 percent increase in tariffs and included it within their financial plan.
She says that they have been actively reducing their trade exposure to China from last year. This has helped to strengthen the global sourcing teams. Price increase had also helped the company to mitigate the effects of the tariff increase, she says.
Store sales have been badly hit in recent times and several stores have gone for closures in 2018 and 2019, says Coresight Research a global marketing research firm. In 2018 about 5864 closures have taken place, says Coresight Research firm. In 2019 already 7000 stores have been marked for store closures.
Further, the research firm says that the trade war will bring in more such store closures as sales have been going down.
