Footwear brand Merrell, which is owned by Wolverine World Wide Inc., announced the closure of its retail stores until March 27. Here is the president’s letter to consumers.
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A letter to the Merrell Community,
The health, safety and well-being of the Merrell team, our consumers, and the communities in which we live, work, and play is the most important consideration today and always. As we cope with the ever-changing circumstances related to COVID-19, we believe we have to take unprecedented steps to protect our teams and our consumers, and to reduce the pressure on our healthcare professionals and local communities.
Effective tomorrow, we will close all Merrell stores to limit the spread of COVID-19. Right now, we plan to be closed until Friday, March 27 – but we’ll continue to evaluate that decision as we learn more about the crisis and take direction from local and federal agencies. Our store employees are the heart and soul of the Merrell brand in more than 50 local communities here in the United States. We do not take the closing of our stores lightly and know our employees depend on us, so during this closure they will continue to be paid. Also, to help our consumers during this closure we will be offering free shipping on any order placed at merrell.com.
We look forward to getting back to business as usual as quickly as possible and we know this is a challenging time for everyone, but we will get through this together. As the situation with COVID-19 rapidly changes, we will remain transparent with our teams and consumers as our response to this situation evolves with the latest information.
At Merrell, we believe in the simple power of spending time outside – while our teams will be spending more time at home, we have encouraged them to safely spend time outdoors – discovering new trails or rediscovering an old one and finding a brief escape from the tough realities of this uncharted time. And we hope you are able to do the same.
Be safe and be well, and thanks for being a part of the Merrell community…
Chris Hufnagel
President, Merrell
Photo courtesy Merrell
