COVID-19 has affected the clothing rental market. While Rent the Runway will still conduct business as usual online, the company sent an email out to its customers this weekend to announce the temporary closures of all of its brick-and-mortar locations.
Rent the Runway’s retail stores closed at the end of business on March 15, and are estimated to remain closed for one week. The company said it will continue to reassess the situation and plan accordingly. It also said that it will continue to pay its store associates.
“We are doing so out of an abundance of caution and to help prevent further spread of the illness,” explained the company email. “We’ll continue to assess the situation and our plans regularly. We are planning to close for a week and will be paying our valued associates during this time.” Customers are advised to return items to Rent the Runway via mail rather than in a store drop-off box.
During a Zoom meeting last week with retail staff, a company executive said the business has been forced to “dramatically reassess” its current operations in order to sustain the business. “All teams at RTR are being impacted in some way today,” she added. “With the current uncertainty and continued government restrictions that are aimed to protect public health during this unprecedented pandemic, we have no visibility into when or if we will be able to reopen our stores. As a result of this, all retail roles are being eliminated. This was a heartbreaking decision.”
Employees say their email accounts were disabled shortly after the call, which lasted less than 30 minutes. Retail employees are receiving their final paycheck on or before April 3rd, and hourly employees are being paid for any shifts they had scheduled prior to March 31st, according to documents reviewed by The Verge. In addition, employees are receiving severance pay and two months of health insurance. The company also sent out an email with details on how to apply for unemployment.
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