Signet Jewelers, parent company of Kay, Zales and Jared, to close another 150 stores

The world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry is planning to close another 150 stores in the fiscal year.

Officials with Signet Jewelers, which operates approximately 3,300 stores primarily under the name brands of Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, and Piercing Pagoda, announced the closings Wednesday with its quarterly earnings.

Last fiscal year, the company closed 262 stores, including 232 stores located in North America.

CEO Virginia C. Drosos said in a statement Wednesday that last fiscal year, the company began its “Path to Brilliance transformation journey, building foundational capabilities to drive future growth.” She said the company made progress on “initiatives, achieving double-digit eCommerce growth, delivering $85 million of net cost savings, and continuing to optimize our store footprint.”

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“However, we did not finish the year as strongly as expected due to a highly competitive promotional environment, continued consumer weakness in the U.K., and lower than expected customer demand for legacy merchandise collections that impacted our holiday fourth quarter results," Drosos said.

According to a company statement, there also will be limited new openings "primarily consisting of repositions to off-mall locations."

By the end of the fiscal year in February 2020, "the company expects it will have reduced its store base by 13% over a three-year period."

Of the company's 3,334 stores, 2,857 stores are in the U.S. with Kay having the most stores with 1,214 and Zales having 658.

Based on figures from global marketing research firm Coresight Research, bankruptcy filings and company earnings reports, nearly 6,500 stores are already slated to be shuttered.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Signet Jewelers, parent company of Kay, Zales and Jared, to close another 150 stores

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