Retailers are feeling the effects of the economic downturn. The latest fatality is the lingerie retailer La Senza is shutting down 81 of its stores, resulting in hundreds of job losses.
Industry analysts are predicting that as many as 30,000 retail jobs could be wiped out this year and they are coining the period a “retail recession.”
The hit to La Senza will wipe out over 50% of its stores, with 81 of the 146 locations planning to close. In total, the La Senza chain that was started in Canada in 1990 has over 480 stores in 45 countries. At its high point, the Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis actually owned it and reportedly sold it for £100million in 2006.
And if La Senza can’t make it, it certainly doesn’t bode well for other retailers. La Senza, after all, had former Miss England Katrina Hodge modeling for them and had a brand of lingerie created through the chain by pop group The Pussycat Dolls.