Swedish home improvement chain to shut UK, Germany stores

Bloomberg

Swedish home improvement chain Clas Ohlson will close all its stores in the UK and Germany following years of losses at its operations there and as the retail market increasingly shifts to online sales.
The closures will affect about 150 employees, cost some $23 million, and set forth a “completely new direction” for the company’s operations outside the Nordics, CEO Lotta Lyra said in the company’s second-quarter report. Clas Ohlson currently has six stores in the UK and four in Germany.
Clas Ohlson, which sells everything from gardening tools to electrical appliances and leisure products, is making a u-turn in markets where it was planning to expand rapidly as recently as two years ago. It originally saw potential to go nationwide in Germany and mimic Ikea Group and Hennes & Mauritz AB’s’ expansion in Europe’s largest economy. Clas Ohlson had focussed its German entry to the northern parts of the country, and opened its fourth store in Hamburg only a year ago. In the UK, Clas Ohlson had hoped that its UK operations would turn a corner amid a new strategy to own clusters of stores in urban areas.
The decision to shutter the stores in the UK and Germany follows the appointment of Lyra, a former Ikea executive, as new CEO in June 2017. Since she started, she has mapped out a new course for the 100-year-old company, placing increasing focus on digital channels and home deliveries while downplaying the importance of store networks. It will retain a presence in the UK and Germany by keeping online sales there.