By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-04-05 06:00:02 | Updated at 2025-04-05 15:51:50
9 hours ago
Guess, once a massive clothing and jeans staple in American malls, has announced it will close 20 stores this year.
The company said it is targeting 'underperforming' locations, but hasn't revealed which stores will shutter.
'We expect to reduce our North American store fleet by roughly 20 stores by the end of the year,' the company's CEO, Carlos Alberini, said during the company's earnings call.
'Traffic declines into our retail stores have persisted.'
Guess reported making $84 million during its 2024 sales season which ended in March.
It was a 30 percent drop from the 2023 season.
February store visits have continued to fall, including a regional plummets of nearly 40 percent in New York state and 29 percent in New Jersey, according to Placer.ai.
Shops in California (up 7 percent), Colorado (up 9 percent), and Michigan (up 16 percent) reported increased interest in the brand.
The company became an iconic jeans seller with celebrity-laden advertising campaigns (Sydney Sweeney)
The decision to shutter the stores comes as Guess debates a $663 million lifeline.
The company said it received a takeover offer from WHP Global, the same company that owns Toys R Us, Isaac Mizrahi, Vera Wang and Anne Klein.
'This is a typical play from WHP Global,' Neil Saunders, the managing director of retail at GlobalData, previously told DailyMail.com.
'They see Guess as a brand that they can grow and develop through their operating model and distribution network.'
Both brands have a history of working together in the past: in April 2024, the companies piled money together to buy designer bag store Rag & Bone.
Rag & Bone was a surprise hit for the brands, giving the company a 13 percent revenue growth boost at the end of 2024, and beating Wall Street expectations.
WHP Global offered to purchase public stocks from the retailer at $13 a share.
The company ended April 4 trading around $11.
Guess said it was closing 20 'underperforming' stores in North America
The company said it has seen dropping sales
Still, Saunders believes that any acquisition of the fashion brand — that once shocked audiences with advertisements featuring Sydney Sweeney as an Anna Nicole Smith look-alike and a bikini-wearing Jennifer Lopez — would need to come with significant investment.
'Guess is well known but it has potential for expansion, and WHP want to execute on this,' he said.
'However, they will need to inject more energy and excitement into the Guess offer and expand distribution of the brand.'
Guess is hardly the only retailer looking to cut back on its storefront count in the US this year.
Experts predict a record 15,000 shops in the US will close because of massive numbers of bank, pharmacy, and retail store closures.
