We'll be seeing fewer Tailored Brands (TLRD) stores in the future. The operator of retailers Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, among others, revealed on Tuesday in a press release that it has tagged up to 500 of its retail outlets for closure and will conduct a round of job cuts. The latter will affect roughly 20% of its corporate workforce and will be enacted by the end of the company's second quarter of the current fiscal year.
The moves are part of a wider effort to rationalize the retailer's operations. Tailored Brands said the aim is to "reduce and realign its store organization and supply chain infrastructure and organization to best serve its go-forward store footprint and e-commerce business."
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"These changes are designed to strengthen the Company's financial position and enable it to compete more effectively in the challenging retail environment," it added.
The company did not delve into details about which of its store brands would be closed, nor did it provide any locations. It expects to book a pre-tax charge of around $6 million in its Q2 for costs connected to the job cuts.
Tailored Brands put much of the blame for its recent difficulties on the coronavirus pandemic, which had resulted in mandated store closures in many locations. Even before that, however, the company had struggled in the face of the retail apocalypse, exacerbated by changing trends in workplace menswear. Its annual sales have fallen consistently since at least 2017, and profitability has been thin.
Investors seem to feel this is the right strategy for Tailored Brands now. On Tuesday they bid the company's stock up by 3.4%, a rate that well outpaced the gains of the broader equities market.
