Sales for the company reached $800 million in 2017, according to Forbes, making Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard a billionaire.
“As COVID-19 spreads—and is now officially a pandemic—we are taking additional safety measures to protect our employees and customers,” read a Friday statement from the company. “The scale of impact is still unknown, and we want to do our part to protect our community especially while testing availability is unknown.”
“We will temporarily close our stores, offices and other operations at the end of business on Friday, March 13, 2020,” the statement continued. “Employees who can work from home will do so. All Patagonia employees will receive their regular pay during the closure. We apologize that over the next two weeks, there will be delays on orders and customer-service requests. We ask for your understanding and patience. We will reassess and post an update on March 27, 2020.”
Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario said in a message posted on the company’s website, “Over the years, as our Patagonia community has been faced with challenges, I have always been inspired by how we emerge stronger and with an even deeper sense of purpose. We will persevere through this challenge, too.”
Patagonia did not immediately provide a comment when contacted by Newsweek.
Glossier, a retailer specializing in skincare and beauty products, also made the decision to close both its permanent and temporary stores for at least two weeks, according to a Thursday statement from founder and CEO Emily Weiss. Employees will be paid for their scheduled time throughout the temporary closures.
“We’re not alarmists, we’re realists,” Weiss wrote. “While this may not be the right decision for every company, it’s the one where we feel we can make an impact.”
“This is a time for us to remember our humanity,” Weiss added.
New Jersey’s American Dream Mall is expected to close temporarily due to coronavirus on Monday. Home to an ice skating rink, an indoor ski slope and a theme park, the mall had been scheduled to open retail stores and a waterpark this month.
“After carefully reviewing the guidelines of public health agencies and in the best interests of our guests and employees,” said American Dream Mall co-CEOs Don and Mark Ghermezian in a statement, “we have made the difficult, but responsible, decision to close American Dream beginning March 16.”
Closings have also affected schools, with states across the country shuttering schools for at least two weeks. Announcing closures in his state, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice called coronavirus “a monster that’s looming.”
Washington Governor Jay Inslee expanded the closure of schools in his state from three counties to all of Washington Friday.
“It is unfortunate, but it is true that this virus is going to spread to other counties and it is spreading very rapidly,” Inslee said at a Friday press conference. “We have concluded that a county-by-county approach to this epidemic is not sufficient. We need to get ahead of this wave and we need to do it today.”
Recent statistics indicate 2,287 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. with 10 of the patients listed in critical condition. So far, 41 individuals have been listed as recovered.
On a global scale, 145,631 cases have been reported with a total 5,423 deaths attributable to the infection. However, 71,162 individuals have recovered.
