Vögele Shoes, hit by coronavirus, to lose 60 stores
Shops will close but the shoe chain's boss did not say how many jobs might be lost.
Keystone
Switzerland’s second-biggest shoe chain Vögele Shoes is to close 60 stores in the country owing to the effects of coronavirus and online competition, its boss has told the media.
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The retailer, which has been owned by CCC of Poland since 2018, is to downsize from 160 stores “to about 100 good stores”, its CEO Max Bertschinger told Blick.ch in an article published on Friday. However, he did not say what this would mean for jobs.
Bertschinger blamed falling revenues, with sales having halved to CHF17 million ($18 million) during the coronavirus lockdown between April and the end of June. Vögele Shoes is also facing stiff competition from online retailers, especially from the ready-to-wear site Zalando.
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