High street fashion giant Primark, department store chain John Lewis and shoe repair specialist Timpson all shuttered stores over the weekend in response to the burgeoning coronavirus epidemic.

Associated British Foods (ABF), the parent company for Primark, announced this morning it had made the decision to close all of its 376 stores across 12 countries, which it said represented a loss in sales of £650m a month. 

ABF confirmed it would be placing a hold on new orders from suppliers and had been in discussions with landlords about reducing rents across all its sites. 

Due to these measures, Primark said it estimated it would be able to recover about 50% of total operating costs. 

Meanwhile, John Lewis & Partners announced that it would close all of its 50 stores temporarily from today for the first time in the chain’s 155-year history.

Its ecommerce offering will remain open and the partnership’s 338 Waitrose stores will stay open to deal with a spike in demand for groceries. The partnership has made more than 2,000 John Lewis staff available to work at Waitrose.

Shoe repair firm Timpson will temporarily close all 2,150 of its stores across the UK from 5pm today.

Chief executive James Timpson said in a Twitter post: “We hope it won’t be for too long. All our wonderful colleagues will remain on full pay and will look forward to seeing you when we reopen.”

The retail sector has been savaged by the outbreak, which has seen footfall plummet as the government brought in increasingly stringent social distancing measures.

New Look shuttered all of its stores late last Friday, while fashion brand Cath Kidston is considering closing with more than 800 jobs at risk as it searches for a buyer, according to Sky News.