Luxury department store Selfridges has announced it is closing its four stores from tonight due to the escalating coronavirus crisis.
The company posted on social media that its shops in Manchester, London and Birmingham city centres and the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester would close from 7pm.
A statement from Selfridges said: "The health, safety and wellbeing of our customers and team members is our utmost priority.
"We must do the right thing by the communities in which we live and work to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
"It is with a heavy heart we have made the decision to temporarily close our four physical stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester.
"We will continue to serve our global customers through Selfridges.com and across our social channels until we can open our doors again."
The company's announcement follows similar moves across many different sectors including cinema chains such as Cineworld and Odeon closing their doors and airline Jet2 suspending most of its flights.
