H&M in Newport will be closing next month, with all staff having to look for work elsewhere.
The company refused to confirm how the number of staff employed at the branch.
A spokesperson for H&M told News OnTheWight,
“During the last few years, we have seen a rapid change in customer behaviour that we cannot ignore.
“We continuously need to evaluate and develop our business to meet our customers’ needs and offer the best possible shopping experience, whether it’s online or in our physical stores.”
H&M: “Sometimes decisions must be made to enable long-term growth”
The went on to add,
“Our ambition is to continue investing in our customers, open new stores where we see opportunities and develop our digital channels. We continuously evaluate how we should invest in stores and sometimes decisions must be made to enable long-term growth.
“This means that we sometimes need to close stores. This decision has been made for our Isle of Wight store.”
H&M: Customer behaviour is constantly changing
The H&M spokesperson said that customer behaviour is constantly changing, and they need to adapt accordingly. They added,
“We want to be where our customers are. The physical store is still extremely important to us and will be a place for customers to shop, discover and be inspired.
“At H&M, we are constantly working to integrate physical and digital stores, we want to find the strength in each channel and make the customer journey smooth.”
Image: jeepersmedia under CC BY 2.0
