Michael Kors to Shutter 100–125 of Its Stores

The Michael Kors brand—which was once a pioneering bridge concept, but more recently feels like a brand that’s decidedly oversaturated at retail—announced this morning in its fourth quarter earnings report (PDF) that it plans to close 100 to 125 full-price stores over the next two years.

As of April, the company operated 827 retail stores.

The news resulted in shares of the company’s stock tumbling more than 9 percent during Wednesday’s premarket trading. The brand posted a net loss of $26.8 million.

CEO John Idol acknowledged that the current discount-centric retail environment has made selling full-priced merchandise a challenge for the brand, which is a regular in clearance bins at discount retailers including Nordstrom Rack and TJ Maxx.

“Fiscal 2017 was a challenging year, as we continued to operate in a difficult retail environment with elevated promotional levels,” Idol said in a prepared statement.

“In addition, our product and store experience did not sufficiently engage and excite consumers. We acknowledge that we need to take further steps to elevate the level of fashion innovation in our accessories assortments and enhance our store experience in order to deepen consumer desire and demand for our products.”

(Image courtesy of Michael Kors)

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JCK Senior Editor

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