Another retailer is fleeing Canada.
Bench’s Canadian partner says it plans to close all of the clothing brand’s stores across Canada. Freemark Apparel Brands Group, which has a strategic partnership with the streetwear brand, currently operates 24 Bench locations across Canada.
"We are closing our bricks-and-mortar stores to focus more on our e-commerce business as well as our key wholesale customers," the company said in a news release.
Further details, including when the stores will close and how many employees will be impacted, have yet to be finalized, the company added. The Canadian store closures were blamed on "changing consumer habits."
Bench was founded in the United Kingdom in 1989 as a streetwear brand influenced by skateboarding culture. The company changed hands a few times before being acquired in 2018 by Boston-based liquidator and restructurer Gordon Brothers.
Bench joins a growing list of retailers that have closed their Canadian stores, including Forever 21, Target, Zellers and Sears.
