C&A is closing several of its Belgian city center stores this year, De Tijd reports. The company has not announced exactly how many stores will be closed. C&A does not want to cause any trouble, a spokesman told the Belgian newspaper.
The fashion group already announced last year that it wants to modernize its European locations. The stores will be centralized and merged. “In today’s market, it is imperative that we position ourselves for success, with a modern approach in our stores and with a stronger digital offering, adapted to and able to serve the needs of our consumers,” said C&A CEO Ginny Boer said in a press release earlier this year that Boer told Handelsblatt that C&A intends to generate half of its total sales through online channels by 2024 or 2025. At that time, online sales accounted for 20 percent of total sales.
In Belgium, shops in the centers of small towns and medium-sized cities in particular are to close, writes De Tijd. Shops in Lier, Hasselt and Tongeren have been closed in recent months. Boer told De Tijd earlier this year that the company intends to divest large properties. In January 2022, a study by data company Locatus showed that C&A owns the most square meters of any fashion chain in Belgium. It had a total of 131,332 square meters of retail space, spread over 112 points of sale.
This translated and edited post previously appeared on FashionUnited.nl.