The French women’s fashion chain Pimkie will now also withdraw from Switzerland, report Swiss local media. Shortly before Christmas, two branches had already been closed abruptly, one in Geneva and one in Crissier near Lausanne. The associated short-term dismissal, of all places, before the holidays, has been heavily criticized by the unions. For example, the company did not inform its employees that it filed for bankruptcy on December 17th. The employees in the branches therefore continued to work, but so far have not received any wages. There is no information about exactly how many branches there were in Switzerland. Switzerland is no longer listed with branches in the branch finder on the Pimkie website.
The French chain store Pimkie has been badly hit by the pandemic and has closed branches across Europe in recent months. Last year Pimkie left Belgium with 23 branches and Austria with 13 branches. Around half of the branches were also closed in Germany. Framode GmbH, the German Pimkie subsidiary, made it out of bankruptcy administration in April last year.
In December, the textile industry reported that Pimkie was getting a new owner in Germany, Spain and Portugal. This is said to be Patrick van der Linden, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Digital Officer at Pimkie International. He secured Pimkie Germany, Spain and Portugal as part of a so-called management buyout (MBO). Van der Linden founded the Young Fashion Group, which now holds the master franchise licenses for the three countries. There is also online trading for Pimkie in the Czech Republic and Austria.