THE UK is on coronavirus lockdown with only essential stores remaining open.
Sports Direct caused controversy on Monday, March 23, by announcing that they believed their product range was “vital” and they intended to stay open. Here is the latest.
Immediately after Boris Johnson‘s speech announcing the coronavirus lockdown, Sports Direct’s parent company Fraser Group sent out a statement to all its 17,559 employees.
It read: “As the government rightly recognises in it’s guidance on social distancing, looking after physical and mental well-being during this unprecedented period of social isolation will be extremely important to prevent people ‘falling into unhealthy patterns of behaviour which in turn can make them feel worse.’
“Consequently, we are uniquely well placed to help keep the UK as fit and healthy as possible during this crisis and thus our Sports Direct and Evans Cycles stores will remain open.”
ONLY a small group of retailers will be allowed to stay open, they include:
“There is no one else that has the range of product and range of stores to make this reasonably accessible for the whole population.”
However, this statement drew criticism from across the country and from the government.
Tory MP and Cabinet Minister Michael Gove told Good Morning Britain: “My view is Mike Ashley should back off. We need to make sure that people stay open where possible.
“There’s no reason for a store like Sports Direct to remain open.”
ONLY a small group of retailers will be allowed to stay open, they include:
No, the stores are not open.
Following a public backlash, Sports Direct opted to close all its stores.
Its merchandise is therefore now only available to purchase online.
Late on the night of Monday, March 23, Sports Direct began to backtrack on its position.
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They tweeted a statement tagging Boris Johnson and asking: “We would like confirmation as to whether our Sports Direct and Evans Cycle fascias should open in the morning?”
And then on Tuesday morning, finance chief Chris Wootton stated: “To clarify … we will not open our Sports Direct or Evans Stores to the public, even though Government policy excludes ‘bicycle shops’ from closure, until we are given the go ahead by the government.
“Please note we are contacting them at all levels including attempting to get confirmation from the prime minister.”
And on Friday, March 27, Mike Ashley issued a personal apology for Fraser Group’s conduct earlier in the week.
The tweeted statement read: “Given what has taken place over the last few days, I thought it was necessary to address and apologise for much of what has been reported across various media outlets regarding my personal actions and those of the Frasers Group business.
“Our intentions were only to seek clarity from the Government as to whether we should keep some of our stores open; we would never have acted against their advice.
“In hindsight, our emails to the Government were ill-judged and poorly timed, when they clearly had much greater pressures than ours to deal with.
“On top of this, our communications to our employees and the public on this was poor.
“There has been no dress rehearsal for what we as a nation are currently tackling, and I for one am immensely proud of how our Government, our NHS & all of our key workers have handled the situation so far.
“I would especially like to thank my Frasers Group employees, who have stood by the business in difficult times before and are doing so again currently.
“We are working very hard to save our business, so that we can continue to be one of the biggest employers on the UK high street once this pandemic has passed.
“Outside of Frasers Group, I have offered our support to the NHS and we are poised and ready for when that offer is accepted, with our entire fleet of lorries at their disposal – to help deliver medical equipment and supplies.
“This offer is not limited to the NHS but all key workforces across the Government. We will help wherever possible.
“Finally, to reiterate, I am deeply apologetic about the misunderstandings of the last few days.
“We will learn from this and will try not to make the same mistakes in the future.”
