Jewelry chains’ owner closing scores of stores

The owner of jewelry chains Jared and Kay won’t reopen hundreds of stores following the pandemic shutdown, adding to the pain for American malls as the company speeds a shift to digital.

Signet Jewelers Ltd., which also owns Zales, H. Samuel, Peoples and Piercing Pagoda, will make lockdown-related store closures permanent at more than 150 locations in North America and 80 in the U.K.

The company also is in discussions with landlords as it prepares to shut another 150 shops, bringing the total planned closures to at least 380 this year, or 12 percent of total stores.

The jeweler joins scores of retailers rethinking their footprint as the economic turbulence of the coronavirus pandemic accelerates the shift away from malls and toward online sales.

Chief Executive Officer Gina Drosos is in the middle of a multiyear turnaround plan centered on expanding e-commerce and eliminating poorly performing stores.

“Shopping malls will continue to be an important part of a customer shopping experience but it’ll vary mall by mall,” Drosos said in an interview Tuesday.

Retailers of all types are taking a hard look at their store networks as they navigate a monthslong shutdown of nonessential stores in the U.S. and abroad. As many as 25,000 stores may close permanently this year, mostly in malls, according to Coresight Research. That would be by far the most ever.

All of Signet’s 2,800 jewelry stores in North America temporarily shut down in March due to the pandemic. In April, the jeweler, which has about 3,200 locations worldwide, began furloughing employees at stores and support centers in order to save cash.

As a result, sales fell more than 40 percent to about $852 million last quarter, the company said Tuesday. Online sales rose 6.7 percent, including a 55 percent spike in April excluding a distribution center shutdown, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the hit from the mass store closures.

Signet has expanded its digital efforts in recent months, including offering live consultations for shoppers at home. It also has held national trunk shows for bespoke merchandise online, rather than traveling to stores around the country.

Signet has reopened more than 1,100 U.S. stores over the past six weeks, with about a quarter only offering curbside pickup. At the fully opened locations, the shopping experience is not quite the same because of COVID-19 safety measures. Jewelry is cleansed with alcohol wipes before and after customer test, and workers wear masks and gloves when appropriate.

The chain had closed more than 200 stores last year and 150 more in 2018.