The outdoor clothing chain Mountain Warehouse is planning to cut 2,000 jobs after the coronavirus outbreak triggered a “catastrophic” drop in sales.
Mark Neale, the retailer’s founder and chief executive, said the company was in “a battle for survival” after a sharp fall in shopper numbers in recent days.
He said he expected sales to plummet further after the UK government’s introduction of stricter measures including quarantine and social distancing.
“Our sales have completely evaporated since Thursday and Friday last week. Yesterday our sales were about 50% down on what we would expect, and following the announcements yesterday I expect they are going to be worse today and tomorrow,” Neale told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He called the situation “catastrophic”, even for a business that was usually profitable and solvent, and said an economic emergency would follow closely behind the public health emergency caused by Covid-19.
He called on the government to take an “urgent” and “enormous” response to help businesses around the country.
“I don’t mean a rates holiday or something like that. We have already taken those numbers out of our cash flow projections. We don’t need somebody covering some sick pay, we need a response along the lines of what Gordon Brown did in the banking crisis, and it probably needs to be bigger than that,” Neale said.
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is expected to announce a financial package for businesses on Tuesday. He is due to give details of how the government will help companies and individuals facing bankruptcy and unemployment after Boris Johnson advised Britons to avoid all unnecessary contact and travel.
Mountain Warehouse was founded with a single store in Swindon in 1997, and now has almost 400 branches in nine countries, with plans to open more. In January, the chain reported record Christmas trading for the 22nd year in a row.
The retailer Shoe Zone has also reported a drop in shopper numbers. Its shares plunged 27% after the chain said it planned to scrap its 8p final dividend payment to shareholders.
Shoe Zone said “it is becoming ever more apparent that it [coronavirus] will create significant disruption to people’s lives and shopping habits in the coming months”.
