A POPULAR fashion chain owned by H&M is to close all its stores – including a branch in Scotland.
Monki is a favourite on the high street due to its trendy clothing and accessories.
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But the brand’s owner has announced plans to either shut down stores or merge them with another one of its fashion brands, Weekday.
Retail giant H&M said it wanted to combine the two to create a one-stop shop that “caters to customers’ high aesthetic standards”.
A statement reads: “A limited number of Monki stores are intended to be transformed into multi-brand Weekday destinations, while the others are intended to be closed.
“The newly formed Weekday multi-brand destination will cater to customers’ high aesthetic standards while embracing their multitude of unique expressions.”
H&M has not yet confirmed when it will pull the shutters on the Monki sites or announce which ones have been saved for integration.
Currently, all Monki stores in the UK remain open and its clothes can also be bought online via its website.
The brand currently has seven stores in the UK:
- London – 37 Carnaby St, Soho, W1F 7DT
- Bristol – Cabot Circus, Concorde St, BS1 3BX
- Birmingham – High Street, 41-43 High Street, B4 7SL
- Sheffield – 108 Pinstone Street, S1 2HQ Sheffield
- Manchester – Arndale Centre Unit L31 & L32, Arndale Shopping Centre, M4 3AQ Manchester
- Newcastle – St Andrews Way, Eldon Square, NE1 7XD Newcastle
- Glasgow – Buchanan Galleries, Buchanan St, G1 2FF Glasgow
Meanwhile, Weekday has five locations in the UK, all of which are in London.
We told how H&M is to shut its customer service hub at Waverley Gate in Edinburgh, with the loss of 150 jobs.
Bosses cited “increased competition, changing customer behaviours and operational costs” for the decision.
It comes as Scotland’s hospitality and retail sectors continue to struggle with both businesses and punters feeling the squeeze from rising costs.
The industry was hammered by closures during the Covid-19 pandemic and was immediately dealt another blow by supply issues and the cost of living crisis.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
Wilko, Paperchase and The Body Shop collapsed into administration, seeing hundreds of shops close and thousands of staff lose their jobs.
Other retailers have announced vast swatches of closures too, including Boots, which is shuttering 300 stores.