THE future of a fashion store in Newport has been thrown into doubt after the company confirmed it was considering a "potential closure" of the shop.

H&M has 305 shops across the UK, with two currently located in Newport – Spytty Retail Park and Friars Walk.

Earlier this year, global fashion giant announced plans to shut 170 stores across Europe due to coronavirus. However, the company did not confirm at the time how many of these closures would affect its UK stores.

But now the company has confirmed it is considering closing the Newport Retail Park store.

South Wales Argus:

H&M in Newport Retail Park. Picture: Google Maps

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A company spokesman said: “I can confirm that our colleagues are currently in consultations about the potential closure of the store in Newport, South Wales.

“We are working to support our colleagues at this time."

They clarified they had "no announcement to make" regarding the Friars Walk branch.

Both the Spytty and Friars Walk stores have been closed throughout the Welsh 'firebreak' lockdown, but are due to re-open as normal on Monday.

In a statement the company said it would "continue to closely monitor the situation and will follow any updated advice from the Welsh Government".

Toni Galli, country manager for H&M UK & I, added: "The health and safety of our customers and colleagues continues to be our number one priority, and we will continue to comply with the government’s guidance on managing the risk of Covid-19 in all our stores and operations and taking all the necessary steps involved.

“We are very much looking forward to welcoming customers back to our stores in Wales and would like to thank everybody for their continued patience as we have navigated this situation together. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our incredible H&M colleagues working in roles within our logistics and customer services departments that have continued to support our online business whilst our stores remained closed in Wales.”