Edinburgh Woollen Mill is the latest of a number of clothing retailers to announce the closure of its entire multi-brand store chain as a consequence of coronavirus. Catering as it does to a mature customer base, EWM noted that footfall has dropped significantly due to government warnings to older members of the population to self-isolate to reduce the risk of contracting the virus. It has also emerged that the group has made some redundancies due to the downturn, with around a hundred of its more recently recruited staff affected, and has also made moves to reduce working hours for other staff whilst putting a freeze on any new recruitment.
“Like many other high street retailers, we are currently experiencing a significant reduction in footfall on the high street. This collapse in footfall has especially affected our core over-60s customers, who have been explicitly told to self-isolate and stay at home by the government,” said a spokesperson for EWM, adding “To prepare effectively today we opened a consultation with our employees about moving to flexible working hours from next week as a way to ensure that we can limit the impact on our business, the team, and, most importantly of all, safeguard as many jobs as possible.”
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