Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Kohl's and Gap, Inc. are the latest companies to announce their plans to reopen temporarily shuttered stores. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has begun the process of reopening its North American and EMEA region stores. The temporary North American and EMEA store closings for the company's brands, including Abercrombie, Abercrombie Kids and Hollister, were first announced in mid-March. These closings were later extended, and the company further announced that it borrowed $210 million under its senior secured asset-based revolving credit facility and withdrew the majority of excess funds from its Rabbi Trust--amounting to approximately $50 million in additional cash--in order to boost liquidity.

In order to follow WHO and CDC safety recommendations, the company said its employees will wear masks, practice physical distancing and wash and sanitize their hands frequently, while stores will increase their sanitation efforts, enforce physical distancing among customers, and have health guards at checkout. The company also would quarantine returns for 24 hours before putting the clothes back on shelves. After extending the temporary closure of its stores nationwide in late March, Kohl's said earlier this week that it is reopening stores in alignment with the Covid-19 timelines and precautions for each state and locale, with many stores operating with reduced hours. The first round of reopened stores are located in Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah.

In addition to limiting store hours, the company said it is implementing further safety precautions by upholding physical distancing practices in stores, ramping up its cleaning and sanitation practices, and reserving certain shopping hours for consumers who are most at-risk, including those above the age of 60, pregnant customers and those who have underlying health conditions. Kohl's will also require all employees to wear masks and gloves. The company first announced the temporary closure of its store on March 19. After extending these closures, the company further announced that it would draw down on its $1 billion revolving credit facility and cut spending by about $500 million to make it through the pandemic