Smiggle, Peter Alexander and Jay Jays stores will reopen this Friday - but one in five shops could soon be closed for good leaving up to 1800 unemployed
- Premier Investments will reopen stores on Friday such as Smiggle and Just Jeans
- Stores were forced to shut on March 26 amid coronavirus but will now reopen
- Company's global sales fell 74 per cent but online sales surged by 99 per cent
- Several other brands that were closed have now reopened like Platypus
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Peter Alexander, Just Jeans and Smiggle will reopen their doors on Friday after they were forced to shut amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Premier Investments, which owns the brands along with retailers Portmans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E and Dotti, closed stores on March 26 and stood down 9,000 employees.
The company, which is owned by billionaire tycoon Solomon Lew, says in-store sales were down 99 per cent for the six weeks to May 6 compared with the same period in 2019.
But total online sales within the company's stores doubled during the same period.
E-commerce sales at luxury pyjama brand Peter Alexander surged by 295 per cent – more than last year's total sales across its 122-store network and online combined.
Smiggle is one of the stores that will reopen in Australia on Friday after it was shut due to coronavirus
'Prior to the global health crisis, customers were already increasingly electing to shop online,' Premier Investments said on Tuesday.
'The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased that existing trend and could hasten the substantial retail restructure already underway.'
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The company said that close to 70 per cent of Premier Retails stores in Australia and New Zealand are either in holdover or have leases expiring in 2020, giving the company 'maximum flexibility' over possible store closures.
Premier Investments also noted its online business had a significantly higher profit margin than its physical store network, hinting it could follow other Australian retailers who have flagged closing up to 20 per cent of their stores.
Peter Alexander has seen online sales rise in Australia by 295 per cent since coronavirus
Crowds stormed shopping centres after stores slowly started to reopen in Australia
Shoe retailer Accent Group – which owns Platypus, The Athlete's Foot, Hype DC and Skechers - has already revealed it will shut as many as 100 of its 522 stores in Australia to focus on digital markets.
If Premier Investments were to follow the same model it could mean as many as 22 store closures and 1,800 workers left jobless.
'There's been a seismic shift to behaviour, which we feel will be prolonged and instilled in the way people shop,' Accent Group chief executive Daniel Agostinelli told The Age.
'We will definitely be reviewing the whole structure [of the business], and we will be redeploying good people from our retail business to digital while increasing our digital capability overall.
Others stores that closed such as General Pants and Michael Hill have also reopened their doors, but haven't made any announcements.
Department stores like David Jones have reopened and Myer has opened stores in Queensland on a trial basis.
Luxury high-end fashion brands like Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vutton have opened along with Apple and Big W.
Stores like Michael Hill and General Pants will also welcome customers back inside
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