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DUBLIN, June 12 (Reuters) - Mothercare's Irish
franchise owner placed its 14 baby products stores into
liquidation on Friday, becoming one of the first major retail
outlets in Ireland to blame the coronavirus lockdown for its
demise.
Mothercare Plc still operates around 1,000 overseas
franchise stores following the collapse of its UK business,
where it fell victim to stiff competition from online retailers
and rising costs across the retail industry.
Major UK retailers have a big presence on the high street in
neighbouring Ireland, where an economy that has been the fastest
growing in Europe for much of the last five years has shielded
it from some of the extremely difficult conditions in Britain.
Mothercare Ireland, which employed 197 people, had already
experienced issues with its supply chain before suffering an
unprecedented hit from late-March with the lockdown of the Irish
economy, Managing Director Jonathan Ward said in a statement.
"What has become clear over the recent weeks is that store
sales are going to continue to be seriously impacted in the
short term whilst social distancing measures are in place and
longer term as consumer habits permanently change," Ward said.
The liquidation followed the closure by British department
store group Debenhams of its 11 Irish stores in April, costing
between 1,200 and 2,000 jobs.
The coronavirus-related disruption has already left 26% of
Ireland's labour force either temporarily or permanently out of
work compared with an unemployment rate of 4.8% in February,
when almost anyone who wanted a job could get one.
The government is reopening the economy at a more cautious
pace than most of Europe with non-essential retailers allowed
open their doors again this week and shopping malls due to
resume trading next week.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
