Bath & Body Works is the latest retailer to announce store closures in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The store’s parent company, L Brands, revealed in a first quarter earnings presentation that 50 Bath & Body Works locations in the United States, as well as one store in Canada, will close in 2022.
Most Bath & Body Works locations shut temporarily on March 17 due to the pandemic, and select stores are now beginning to reopen. Net sales for the first quarter of this year dropped 37% from the same period last year, the company said in its report to investors.
The planned closures will affect many mall locations, which “may not come back to their pre-crisis levels of productivity,” L Brands CEO Andrew Meslow said in a recent call with investors.
While some stores are closing, 26 new locations will also open this year, meaning there will still be just over 1,700 Bath & Body Works locations across the U.S. and Canada.
