Mizuno, the Japanese sports goods, apparels and footwear manufacturer will close about 200 stores in China before the end of 2009 and will maintain the number of stores at around 700 in number in that country.
China is a major overseas market of Mizuno and it has company owned stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and other first line cities, while in the second and third tier cities they are mainly franchisee owned outlets.
As of the end of 2008, Mizuno had 260 company owned and 642 franchise outlets in China. Commenting on the closure, an official said that as of now there is no fixed number to the number of stores that will be closed down in each city.
He added by saying that a number of stores will be merged or closed down in accordance with the ground situation in that city or town, but said that the number of outlets to be closed in Shanghai will not be too many.
Source: www.fibre2fashion.com
