Japanese sporting goods maker Asics closed down its New York flagship store in December amid the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced on Monday.
The store opened in December 2017 on Fifth Avenue, selling running shoes and sportswear. Asics’s decision comes as high rent bites the company, on top of uncertainties around when the pandemic will end.
Due to the store’s closure, the sports brand is taking an extraordinary loss of about 2.3 billion yen ($22 million) for the fiscal year ended December 2020. The loss is already included in the latest earnings forecast.
Asics’ sales in North America declined by 19% between January and September 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. The company is expected to take a net loss of 17 billion yen in fiscal 2020. Sales are forecast to decline by 15% to 320 billion yen.