One of the world’s leading fashion retailers is on the brink in Spain. The Swedish fashion chain H&M is back in the news with shop closures. After the closures and mass redundancies in 2021, which affected two of its most iconic shops in Madrid (Gran Vía and Conde Peñalver), the brand has once again announced that it will close 28 shops in Spain, laying off 588 workers.
According to a statement, the closure and redundancies are due to organisational, productive and economic reasons. The unions consider the measure “too aggressive”, and the company has pledged to work with the unions to “approach this matter with the utmost respect”. The negotiation process proposed by the textile company will begin in September.
The group has around 4,000 workers in Spain and over one hundred shops. During the past year, the workers staged several demonstrations due to work overload given the reduced number of employees, and the unions reached an agreement with H&M to improve staff working conditions and salaries in Spain, with incentives on sales, responsibility bonuses, benefits, more resources in shops and salary increases.
It still has not been disclosed whether any of the 28 shops to be closed are in Madrid. H&M currently has three shops in the capital (Orense, 6; Gran Vía, 32; and Velázquez, 36) and another twelve in shopping centres such as Xanadú, Plaza Norte 2, Plenilunio, La Gavia, Islazul and Moraleja Green.
