Athleisure company Outdoor Voices is closing the doors of all of its 16 stores nationwide, as the company plans to move completely online, The New York Times reports. On Wednesday, retail employees were alerted of their imminent layoffs through Slack. “Outdoor Voices is embarking on a new chapter as we transition to an exclusively online business,” the message read, as the company told employees it planned to close all stores by Sunday, with in-store prices being slashed 50 percent. Two employees told the Times the news was unexpected, and that they had not been offered severance. One employee said an offer they received to keep working until the end of the week for $500 felt like a slap in the face. The exercise and lifestyle brand was founded in 2012, and attracted millions in investor funding, rocketing its valuation to $110 million in 2018. By 2020, however, the company’s valuation dropped to $40 million, and its co-founder, and CEO Ty Haney decided to step down shortly after.
