Make-up brand Morphe has suddenly closed all its stores across the UK and made dozens of staff redundant without notice.
The brand closed all seven of its UK shops yesterday, it is understood, with 73 employees made redundant effective immediately.
Morphe has removed the standalone branches from its online store locator and only shows its counters in Boots and Superdrug, as well as selected Selfridges, Flannels and H Beauty stores across the country.
A spokesperson from Morphe’s parent company, Forma Brands, said: ‘Forma Brands has made significant progress over the last year positioning our business for growth by focusing on our flagship Morphe brand largely through our wholesale and ecommerce operations.
‘During that time, our owned Morphe stores in Europe, which have consistently provided an extraordinary experience for our customers, faced disproportionately high store rent obligations.
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Morphe in Liverpool ONE is seen boarded up, with stock apparently removed from the shelves
Morphe closed all seven of its UK shops yesterday, it is understood, with 73 employees made redundant effective immediately (File image)
‘We have therefore made the difficult decision to close our seven UK and one Amsterdam retail locations. This move aligns with our strategy to prioritize and expand our successful wholesale and e-commerce operations, similar to our model in the U.S.’
Photographs show boarded up Morphe stalls in locations such as Liverpool One, with stock seemingly removed from all the shelves.
The cosmetics giant opened its Liverpool store in May 2019, offering more than 300 brushes, palettes and makeup sessions with professional artists.
Some former employees of the makeup store took to social media to share that staff across the UK have been made redundant, calling it ‘one of the worst things on earth’.
One person on X, formerly Twitter, said: ‘My friend who works at Morphe has just let me know she’s been made redundant because they’re closing all UK stores with no notice.’
Another added: ‘I really hope those who got made redundant by Morphe UK are able to find a new job as stress free as they can, redundancy is one of the worst things on earth.’
Morphe has removed the standalone branches from its online store locator (File image)
People took to social media to share that staff across the UK have been made redundant
People took to social media to share that staff across the UK have been made redundant
A spokesperson for Morphe said: ‘Given the difficult U.K. retail trading environment and disproportionately high rents, we made the difficult decision to close our eight owned Morphe stores in the UK and Amsterdam.
‘While this was a difficult decision as it impacted some incredible people who worked in our stores, this move aligns with our strategy to prioritize and expand our growing wholesale and e-commerce operations, similar to our model in the US which has proven to be very successful.
‘We are immensely grateful to our incredible store teams for their dedication and passion over the years.
‘We are immensely grateful to our incredible store teams for their dedication and passion over the years and are working to support them through this transition.
‘Due to store closures, impacted store team members were made redundant immediately. In recognition of their dedication, the parent company Forma Brands LLC has provided goodwill payments to all affected employees, equivalent to an enhanced redundancy package.’
