Christopher & Banks to close up to 40 stores
Dec. 6, 2018
Christopher & Banks plans to close 30 to 40 stores within 2 1/2 years, company officials said in an earnings conference call.
The Twin Cities-based women’s clothing retailer has three stores in Sioux Falls: one at Dawley Farm Village and a Christopher & Banks store and a CJ Banks plus-size shop in The Empire Mall. Managers said they had no information on the status of their locations and that details would be released by the corporate office. There also are South Dakota stores in Yankton, Watertown, Aberdeen, Pierre and Rapid City.
The closings will begin in late 2019 as leases expire, CFO Richard Bundy said in the conference call Tuesday. Christopher & Banks, which is publicly traded, has 461 stores in 45 states.
The company’s third-quarter net loss was $8.8 million, and net sales fell 7 percent to $91.3 million compared with the same period a year ago. Bundy attributed the decline to “supply chain delays and the resulting lower levels of fall inventory together with excess spring and summer inventory.”
Ahead of the store closings, the company expects to see improvement in sales.
“For fiscal 2019, we expect sales growth of 2 percent to 3 percent to be driven through expanding our omni-channel capabilities, enhancing the overall product assortment in our stores and implementing more meaningful impactful marketing promotions to drive customer file growth,” Bundy said.
