Victoria’s Secret has announced that it will close 53 stores this year

Sad news for the lingerie brand.

Earlier this week, L Brands who own Victora's Secret announced that the underwear retailer will be closing 53 stores in the next 12 months. The 53 closures will all be based in North America and sees an increase on the 30 they closed in 2018. Stuart Burgdoerfer, chief financial officer of L Brands, spoke to investors during a conference call on Thursday morning, breaking the news saying:

“Our store closure plans are heightened in 2018 and we’ve pulled back on investing in new stores and the remodeling of stores substantially over the last several years. “We did a deep review of all of our real estate in the fourth quarter, which solidified and gave rise to our plans about capital activity, spending activity in 2019 and again a more active closure plan for 2019 than we had seen in prior years.”

Continuing, he said that the retailer plans to close stores every year as they reinvest into the stronger ones and then, going forward look at opening new stores. The brand also hopes that by closing certain stores it'll drive more footfall to the larger units.