Morphe Cosmetics has closed its seven UK brick-and-mortar stores, shifting its focus to wholesale and online operations.
Stores in Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Cardiff and Stratford have shut, making 73 employees redundant.
The popular cosmetics brand will continue to be available to shop at counters at retailers including Boots, Selfridges, Flannels and H Beauty, as well as online.
Morphe’s parent firm said it is supporting impacted staff with goodwill payments, equivalent to an enhanced redundancy package.
A spokesperson from Forma Brands, Morphe’s parent company, told Retail Gazette: “Forma Brands has made significant progress over the last year positioning our business for growth by focusing on our flagship Morphe brand largely through our wholesale and ecommerce operations.
“During that time, our owned Morphe stores in Europe, which have consistently provided an extraordinary experience for our customers, faced disproportionately high store rent obligations.
“We have therefore made the difficult decision to close our seven UK and one Amsterdam retail locations. This move aligns with our strategy to prioritize and expand our successful wholesale and e-commerce operations, similar to our model in the U.S.”
“We also facilitated an ownership transition of our UK wholesale and e-commerce businesses, which will operate as FORMA BRANDS UK LTD., effective immediately.
“We are immensely grateful to our incredible store teams for their dedication and passion over the years and are working to support them through this transition. Due to store closures, impacted store team members were made redundant immediately.
“In recognition of their dedication, the parent company Forma Brands LLC has provided goodwill payments to all affected employees, equivalent to an enhanced redundancy package.”
