Witchery, Country Road, Mimco, Trenery and Politix will all close for the next four weeks after the group said it could not guarantee the community, customer or staff welfare in the small format stores.

Woolworths Holdings Limited, is also closing two David Jones stores at Barangaroo in Sydney and James St, Brisbane, but the larger David Jones stores around Australia will remain open.

A spokesperson for David Jones said: "The strict implementation of social distancing protocols has become a dominant feature of our stores which are large format, well-spaced and cashless, and therefore enable social distancing to be properly observed and promoted, and for enhanced hygiene standards to be implemented. We have two smaller stores (Barangaroo, Sydney & James St, Brisbane) where adherence to social distancing is not practical and we have taken the decision to close these stores today.

"Our online business will remain available throughout this period and we have seen a significant increase in our customers using this service.

"We will continue to asses this situation on a daily basis, in continued consultation with our teams, and in line with all government advice."

The news comes after Myer stood down 10,000 staff following store closures yesterday.

Staff from Country Road Group will be stood down but the organisation is partnering with Hatch, a labor exchange to support staff to find other retail jobs for the time being.

The COVID-19 Labour Exchange matches the skills and experience of people who need work.

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