Two of the big name retailers at Gloucester Quays, Nike and North Face, have warned that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit their global sales.

VF Corp, owner of North Face, has warned of a potential halving of its first quarter revenue, as countries slowly start to ease their coronavirus lockdowns, as reported by Retail Gazette.

For the quarter ending March 28, the company saw sales fall by 11 per cent due to falling consumer demand as the pandemic started to take hold. Now VF Corp expects revenues in the first quarter of the current financial year to be down more than 50 per cent.

The company expects all of its stores worldwide to be open again by the middle of the year.

Meanwhile, Nike has issued a warning that store closures as a result of a worldwide lockdown will hit both is retail and wholesales businesses in the fourth quarter.

The sportswear giant has been reopening stores in more than 15 countries, including France and Germany. 

All of Nike's directly-operated stores are now open in China, while more than 95 per cent are open in South Korea. But footfall remains below pre-lockdown levels.

Nike said strong online sales were going some way to offsetting declining in-store sales.

Its stores in the UK will remain closed until at least 1st June, when lockdown restrictions will be eased.