Shoe Zone has reported a half-year loss and a fall in sales as it unveils plans to reduce the size of its store estate to cut costs.

The footwear specialist posted a statutory pre-tax loss of £2.5m in the six months to April 4 as sales declined 5.6% to £68.9m.

The retailer said that coronavirus will “continue to have an unprecedented impact on the UK economy and the retail industry” and that the shockwaves will “be felt for several years” by the business.

As a result of this, Shoe Zone said it is reviewing the viability of all its stores. It took the decision to close 20 for good over the course of lockdown, giving it a total of 470 stores overall.

Shoe Zone said that it delivered 2.6% revenue growth in the year to the end of February, but that growth was lampooned when the government mandated non-essential store closures amid the coronavirus outbreak in March.

Shoe Zone’s 47 big-box stores contributed £9.4m worth of sales during the first half of the year, up from £5.5m during the same period last year, while online sales rose 31.9% to £6.5m.