Godiva Queens Center Mall (Photo: Godiva)
Jan. 26, 2021 By Christina Santucci
The Godiva store in the Queens Center mall will close next month as the chocolate company shuts down all it brick-and-mortar locations in North America.
The last official day the Queens store will be open is Feb. 15, and the shop is one of 128 stores across the continent scheduled to close. The stores will all be shut down by the end of March and it is unclear how many workers will be left jobless.
In a statement, Godiva noted that the closures stem from an increase in online shopping as well as product sales at grocery stores and other retail locations.
“At the same time, in this market, demand for the in-person shopping experience offered through Godiva’s brick & mortar locations has waned as a result of the pandemic and its acceleration of changes in consumers’ shopping behavior,” the statement read.
Godiva opened its Queens Center shop following a $275 million expansion and renovation of the mall in 2004, and the location sells “freshly dipped treats,” luxury chocolate gift boxes and chocolate truffle and butter shortbread biscuit cookies, according to its website.
The chocolatier, founded in Brussels in 1926, plans to keep its stores open in Europe, the Middle East and Greater China.
“We have always been focused on what our consumers need and how they want to experience our brand, which is why we have made this decision,” Nurtac Afridi, CEO of Godiva, said in a statement.
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