Coronavirus Kent: Abercrombie & Fitch, Under Armour, Timberland, and Nike close in Ashford Designer Outlet
Published: 18:49, 16 March 2020
Updated: 19:00, 16 March 2020
Three more stores at the Designer Outlet in Ashford have shut as companies seek to address growing concerns about the coronavirus.
Abercrombie & Fitch, Under Armour, and Timberland have joined Nike in temporarily closing down stores at the outlet in an attempt to limit the spread of Covid-19.
On the Ashford Designer Outlet website, the Abercrombie & Fitch and Timberland stores show up as "temporarily closed" as opposed to showing normal opening times.
While Under Armour still displays its opening times, sources suggest the Ashford store is following its sister outlets in North America in closing its doors.
Footwear giant Nike was the first to close after the company made the decision to close stores across Europe.
Bosses of the global brand announced that shops in multiple countries would be shut, due to reopen on Friday March 27.
A statement read: "The well-being of our teammates and consumers is our top priority so we have decided to close our stores in multiple countries around the world including in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
"These closures will go into effect from Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 27. Customers can continue to shop on Nike.com and on our Nike apps.
"The well-being of our teammates and consumers is our top priority..."
"We are taking additional steps in other Nike-managed facilities, including the option to work from home, staggered work schedules, social distancing, and additional safety and cleaning steps to help protect and support our teammates.
"Our Nike-owned stores in South Korea, Japan, most of China and in many other countries are currently open and will continue their normal operations
It came after the Outlet denied rumours that that a member of Nike's head office had been diagnosed with the virus after visiting the Ashford branch.
It is not currently clear when the stores plan to reopen.
Abercrombie &Fitch, Under Armour and Timberland have been contacted for comment.
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Alex Jee