Reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company says it took several actions to prioritise safety and enhance associate benefits. To promote a safe environment for associates and customers, it implemented a number of operational changes in mid-March, including closing stores earlier to allow more time for sanitation and replenishing of essential products, limiting customer traffic in stores, and cancelling traffic-driving events such as Spring Black Friday.
While sales trends were strong at the end of the first quarter and into the first two weeks of the second quarter, as a result of the uncertainty related to the duration of Covid-19 and its impact on the broader economy, the company is suspending its previously communicated fiscal 2020 guidance.