Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Vögele Shoes, hit by coronavirus, to lose 60 stores

Voegele shoe store
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. 

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. 

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR