No confirmation on future of Cork's H&M store; company announces 170 stores to close worldwide

H&M have declined to say whether their Cork or Irish based stores will be affected by the decision to close around 170 of their shops around the world.

The closures are expected to affect shops across H&M Group’s seven brands, which include COS, Monki, and Weekday.

However, to offset the loss of certain stores, a further 130 stores are expected to open in different locations.

H&M currently has 16 stores in the Republic of Ireland, one of which is on Opera Lane in Cork city centre.

A spokesperson for H&M told The Echo: “Our physical stores are incredibly important to us and we want to ensure that we have H&M stores in the right locations.

“In the Six month report, H&M Group has previously announced that on a global level, it will close around 170 of around 5000 stores around the world, across all of its seven brands, this will be alongside 130 store openings globally.

“At this stage we cannot comment on how this might affect stores in Ireland.”