Victoria’s Secret Announces Plans to Shutter 53 Stores

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio—L Brands Inc., the parent company of the Victoria’s Secret lingerie chain, announced this week it plans to shutter 53 brick-and-mortar North American stores in the next year. The announcement, made on Wednesday, came on the heels of the release of earnings results in the holiday quarter for the chain. “Given the decline in performance at Victoria’s Secret, we have substantially pulled back on capital investment in that business versus our history,’’ company officials wrote in a statement about holiday-quarter results. The company has not yet announced which stores will close, but noted its square footage in North America will decline by about 3 percent. Victoria’s Secret has struggled not just with sales in recent months, but also image problems. Last year, ThirdLove—a direct-to-consumer lingerie startup—took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to call out Victoria’s Secret on what it labeled a lack of body inclusivity as well as hypersexual marketing. San Francisco-based ThirdLove announced Tuesday it had raised $55 million from investors, including L Catterton, Allen & Company, 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and journalist Katie Couric. Also this week, Target announced it plans to launch new lines of sleepwear and lingerie this year in an effort to take on the Victoria’s Secret brand. Despite sales declines, closed stores and new leadership in the past few years, Victoria’s Secret still owns roughly one-third of the market. The parent company also owns Pink and Bath & Body Works. For more, visit VictoriasSecret.com.