The coronavirus continues to impact retail businesses, and Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret are the latest to be affected.
Today.com reported the bath shop chain's parent company, L Brands, announced in its first-quarter earnings report last week that 50 of its locations in the U.S. and one in Canada will close this year. Many mall locations will be affected. More than 250 of the company's Victoria Secret locations are set to close across North America this year.
However, 26 new Bath & Body Works locations will open this year, and in an earnings call with investors earlier this month, L Brands CEO Andrew Meslow said hand sanitizer and soap sales have surged amid COVID-19. Online sales are up 85%, according to last week’s report. Total sales are down 18%.
“We do believe that that portion of the business especially will continue to grow rapidly as again sanitizer is now something that will likely be part of all of our daily routines for the months and years ahead,” Meslow said.
The news comes after the company announced that 250 of its Victoria’s Secret stores would close in the U.S. and Canada.
CNBC reported Victoria’s Secret’s total sales fell 46% during the first fiscal quarter that ended May 2. The stores were forced to close amid the pandemic and have reported their third consecutive quarterly loss and fourth straight drop in sales.
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