Companies and Brands

Nike Closes All US Stores, Last Company To Put Public Safety Ahead Of Profits

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: March 15, 2020 7:39 am

Last Updated: March 15, 2020 7:47 am

In a move to help the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.  Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) has closed all of its stores in America. It has also closed stores in other parts of the world. It has become the most recent retailer to do this. The most visible is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) which closed all its stores outside China yesterday.

Nike announced the following:

The well-being of our teammates and consumers is our top priority so we have decided to close our stores in multiple countries around the world including in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand to limit the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). These closures will go into effect from Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 27. Customers can continue to shop on Nike.com and on our Nike apps.

We are taking additional steps in other Nike-managed facilities, including the option to work from home, staggered work schedules, social distancing and additional safety and cleaning steps to help protect and support our teammates.

Our Nike-owned stores in South Korea, Japan, most of China and in many other countries are currently open and will continue their normal operations.

Nike also becomes the latest company to risk revenue. It and related brands it owns in the U.S. have nearly 400 locations. Other retail outlets that sell Nike products have not closed yet, but they are bound to. Nike may be left with e-commerce as its primary way to reach customers.

In a very real way, Nike has performed a major public service which is bound to hurt investors, and perhaps part of its employee base. The company’s 52-week high is almost $106. It currently trades near its 52-week low of just below $72.

Nike’s sales have risen steadily since 2016 which revenue was $32.4 billion. Last year, it reached $39.1 billion. Net income which was $3.7 billion in 2016, has risen to $4 billion.

Nike has 77,000 workers.