Blue Nile Announces Layoffs — Retail Bum

Jewelry company Blue Nile has filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice with the state of Washington, stating that it will lay off 119 employees in Seattle.

“As part of the integration of Blue Nile, we will be reducing duplicative fulfillment center services to centralize these services within our existing New York City fulfillment center over the coming months,” said a Signet Jewelers spokesperson in a statement. “This change, unfortunately, impacts the roles of some of our Blue Nile team members.”

Blue Nile has offered some of its employees to relocate to the company’s operations in New York City or explore other roles within the company, including those in the Seattle area. Meanwhile, the rest of the affected team members are being offered outplacement and support services.

As per the notice, the layoffs resulting from permanent closure will commence on July 14, 2023.

The news comes weeks after Blue Nile’s parent company, Signet, reported a 5.2% year-over-year decline in Q4 sales across the globe to $2.7 billion. The comparable sales also experienced a decrease of 9.1%, and the operating income fell from $402.4 million to $369.5 million. Although Signet’s full fiscal year showed a 0.2% increase in total sales compared to the previous year, comparable sales dropped by 6.1%.

In August 2022, Signet purchased Blue Nile, a competitor, for $360 million to expand the “accessible luxury” category. This acquisition followed Signet’s purchase of Diamonds Direct earlier in 2021. Signet stated that Blue Nile had generated around $500 million in sales during 2021 at the time of the acquisition.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on March 29, 2023.