Earlier this month, H&M announced that it would be closing all seven of its Monki branches in the UK. In the update, the fashion brand said it was planning to either shut or merge the stores with fellow brand Weekday
High street fashion chain Monki will be closing two of its UK branches very soon.
The retailer – owned by the global chain H&M – will close its sites in Manchester and Newcastle next month, so shoppers have little time left to enjoy the sites in person. The Newcastle branch in the Eldon Square shopping centre will shut for good on Thursday, January 2. While the Manchester branch – located in the city’s Arndale Centre – will be closing on Tuesday, January 17.
Earlier this month, H&M announced that it would be closing all seven of its Monki branches in the UK. In the update, the fashion brand said it was planning to either shut or merge the stores with fellow brand Weekday. The future of the five other Monki sites remains uncertain. The remaining sites include:
- London – 37 Carnaby St, Soho, W1F 7DT
- Bristol – Cabot Circus, Concorde St, BS1 3BX
- Birmingham – High Street, 41-43 High Street, B4 7SL
- Sheffield – 108 Pinstone Street, S1 2HQ Sheffield
- Glasgow – Buchanan Galleries, Buchanan St, G1 2FF Glasgow
Monki’s online store will also continue to operate normally during this time, and the brand will continue to be sold on the Weekday website going forward. The Swedish retail giant said it wanted to combine the two brands to create a one-stop shop that is the “ultimate youth destination for style and creative expression”. The Weekday/Monki multi-brand stores will open in 2025.
The statement from H&M read: “A limited number of Monki stores are intended to be transformed into multi-brand Weekday destinations, while the others are intended to be closed. The newly formed Weekday multi-brand destination will cater to customers’ high aesthetic standards while embracing their multitude of unique expressions.”
H&M has also not given details about the number of employees involved and whether jobs will be protected. According to H&M Group’s own information published in August this year, Monki is currently active with 56 stores in 15 markets. The brand also operates webshops in 29 countries. Weekday, meanwhile, has 47 stores in 14 markets and 29 regional online web shops.
Last year, H&M cut around 150 jobs at Monki’s head office in Gothenburg, Sweden, as part of the merger of Monki and Weekday. At the same time, H&M announced a return of a “small assortment of jeans” from its Cheap Monday brand, which shut its doors to shoppers in 2019.
In September, the fashion brand told the Financial Times that it had “all but abandoned its profit target” for the year as it struggled to boost margins due to higher material and marketing costs and intense competition from rivals such as Shein and Zara.
