North Carolina-based Earth Fare to close its stores
Posted: Feb 3, 2020 / 12:50 PM EST / Updated: Feb 3, 2020 / 12:50 PM EST
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Organic grocery chain Earth Fare says it is closing all of its stores, saying it can't refinance its debt and it faces sales challenges.
The Asheville, North Carolina-based chain said Monday that workers at its stores across the South and in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, have been notified of the pending closures as part of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported, citing a news release.
The store didn't immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press on Monday seeking additional comment.
Earth Fare, which started in 1975, has tried "numerous strategic initiatives aimed at growth and expansion and enhancing the customer experience" in recent years, the company said. But it was not enough.
"While many of these initiatives improved the business, continued challenges in the retail industry impeded the company's progress as well as its ability to refinance its debt," the statement reads. "As a result, Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate on a go-forward basis.
The statement said the chain would continue to look for potential suitors for its stores.
LONDON (AP) — Dozens of U.K. music stars including Elton John, Ed Sheeran and conductor Simon Rattle say musicians have been "shamefully failed" by the British government, which has left them facing post-Brexit restrictions on touring in the European Union.
In a letter published Wednesday in the Times of London, more than 100 musicians including Sting, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and Roger Daltrey of The Who, along with the heads of major arts institutions, said the new U.K.-EU trade deal that took effect Jan. 1 has "a gaping hole where the promised free movement for musicians should be."
Global shares rise on hopes Biden will act on economy, virus
by YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press / Jan 20, 2021
TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly higher ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration as U.S. president Wednesday, though worries about surging coronavirus cases sapped the Japanese market's early gains.
France's CAC 40 added 0.2% to 5,607.84 in early trading, while Germany's DAX rose 0.2% to 13,848.56. Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 6,722.42. U.S. shares were set to drift moderately higher as Dow futures inched up less than 0.1% to 30,841.0. S&P 500 futures were up 0.3% at 3,800.12.