James Warren
THE common sight of the unique twin arch entrances of toy store Imaginarium will soon be no more as the company announces that it will close all but two of their stores nationwide.
The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has become too much for the shopping centre stalwart with dramatic losses causing the brand to cull 82% of their workforce.
According to reports, Imaginarium will keep just two of its physical stores open, one of which operates out of the El Ingenio shopping Centre in Velez Malga.
The other store chosen to remain open is in Zaragoza, Aragonia.
The closures will mean that 119 of a total of 144 employees will see themselves laid off with relatively immediate effect.
Imaginarium will still continue to operate their online stores for now but it is unclear in the long term whether it will be affected.
Worker’s unions hoped that the store would remain open until the end of the month however a complete drop in customers in the past weeks have forced closure weeks earlier than planned.
Union’s are now working on ensuring that employees will not loose out on the two weeks wages potentially lost due to early closure.
The secretary general of the Federation of Services of CCOO-Aragon, Marta Laiglesia has also stepped in to make sure Imagimarium complies with Spanish law and pay employees affected severance pay and outstanding wages.
Imaginarium becomes the latest in a host of high profile stores to close its doors due to COVID-19.
In November, Primark furloughed thousand of workers after closing a large number of stores nationwide due to 60% drops in physical sales.
Just last week, Dutch beer giant Heineken announced that it would be laying off 8,000 workers across Europe potentially affecting it’s Spanish breweries.
TopShop, Nissan, Douglas Perfume, Worten and Arcadia have seen massive job losses due to the economic damage caused by the pandemic, adding to Spain’s precarious position at the top of the EU’s unemployment tables.
