Roots, the Canadian outdoor lifestyle brand, said it is permanently closing its stores in Boston, Washington and Chicago, as well as its pop-up location in Woodbury Common, New York. Two stores in Michigan and Utah will remain open.
In its quarterly earnings statement, Root announced the liquidation of Roots USA Corporation, its U.S. subsidiary, through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing to support the closings.
Roots said it continues to believe in the U.S. market opportunity. However, with the $6.0 million adjusted EBITDA loss generated by its seven U.S. stores in FY2019 and the discretionary retail environment has become increasingly challenging as a result of COVID-19, the company believes a principally e-commerce-based distribution in the near-term is the best approach to continuing to serve its loyal U.S. customer base. Roots will also continue to operate its two longstanding stores in Michigan and Utah, as both locations play important roles in the company’s heritage and have well-established customer bases.
As of April 29, 2020, Roots operated 114 corporate-retail stores in Canada, two corporate-retail stores in the United States, 115 partner-operated stores in Taiwan, 36 partner-operated stores in China, two partner-operated stores in Hong Kong and a global e-commerce platform, roots.com.
Photo courtesy Roots
