City Chic’s Westfield North Lakes store one of 14 closing across Australia

A national plus-sized women’s fashion retailer will close one of its Queensland stores after failing to agree to “appropriate” rental terms in the wake of COVID-19.

PLUS-sized women’s fashion retailer City Chic is closing one of its Queensland stores after failing to agree to an appropriate rental reduction in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The closure of the Westfield North Lakes store is one of 14 across Australia that will be closed, reducing the retailer’s footprint to 92 outlets.

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There are 16 City Chic stores remaining in Queensland.

In an ASX statement City Chic Collective said it has struck deals with landlords to reduce rents during store closures because of COVID-19 and agreed to market appropriate go-forward rents.

However, 14 holdover stores where an appropriate rental agreement could not be struck will be closed.

City Chic Collective chief executive Phil Ryan said the decision reflected the company’s focus on “appropriate store economics”.

“We remain committed to opening new stores and converting stores to larger formats where deals can be structured to reflect the current retail environment,” he said.

“As an omni-channel retailer we will continue to engage with our customers across multiple touch points, but recognise the ongoing shift to online and are well positioned to execute on our digital strategy.”

Originally named Miller’s Retail, the Sydney-based company was rebranded to Specialty Fashion Group in 2006. In 2018 the company sold five of its brands; Autograph, Crossroads, Katies, Millers and Rivers, to Noni B with its remaining operations rebranded City Chic.

In October last year it purchased the e-commerce assets of Avenue stores from its administrator.