US leather clothing retailer closes 100 stores, lays off 1,000
Wilsons the Leather Experts Inc has announced it is to close up to 100 stores and lay off around 1,000 workers after suffering a poor holiday season.
The American company will eliminate 950 store-related positions, as well as around 70 positions at its corporate headquarters in
The move will reduce Wilson Leather’s number of stores to around 430 over the next three to four months, down from 598 at the start of the year.
Joel Waller, Wilsons Leather CEO, said: “We expect the cost reduction initiative will enable us to reduce our working capital needs and strengthen our business. We are being very aggressive in taking the appropriate actions to move our company forward. Concurrently, we are continuing to focus our efforts on analyzing and improving our merchandise performance and establishing an appropriate financial structure.”
