The Orsay fashion chain wants to close all 130 stores in Germany by the end of June. A company spokesman says the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war have had an unspeakable impact on the business. More than a thousand employees are about to be laid off. The development was already announced at the end of April.
The fashion company Orsay, based in Willstätt in Baden-Württemberg, is closing all of its German branches. “I can confirm that Orsay will close the remaining 130 locations in Germany by the end of June,” said company spokesman Wolfgang Weber-Thedy of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” on Tuesday. According to Weber-Thedy, almost 1,200 employees will lose their jobs as a result. “We very much regret that.”
The corona pandemic had already put a heavy strain on the business. The Ukraine war had further depressed German consumers’ propensity to buy, the reasoning was given. Therefore, the insolvency proceedings under self-administration, “on which we had placed great hopes”, could not be continued.
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According to the information, the company once had 197 locations in Germany, 67 of which had already been closed at the end of April as part of the renovation. Since it was not possible to find an investor under the current economic conditions, the closure decision made at the end of March must now be implemented, said the spokesman for the “Rheinische Post”.
Even state aid had not helped the ailing company. According to its own information, the company received an aid commitment of 33 million euros from the federal government’s economic stabilization fund last year, but only called up part of the money. The shops are now also being closed in other countries, and this has already happened in Austria.
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The rising prices are becoming more and more noticeable and are leaving their mark accordingly. In April, the strongest sales slump ever measured was recorded in the food trade. The trade assumes that low-income people in particular can afford less.
