Yankee Candle to Shutter Illuminations

South Deerfield, Mass. Yankee Holding Corp. and wholly owned subsidiary The Yankee Candle Co., Inc. announced a restructuring plan that involves closing the company's 28 Illuminations stores and the related Illuminations consumer-direct business. One underperforming Yankee Candle will also be closed, the company said.

Yankee expects to close the Illuminations stores by April 30. It acquired the Illuminations business in July 2006 and plans to continue to develop and market Illuminations-branded products primarily through it core wholesale business, it said.

The restructuring “has no impact on our plans for Yankee Candle retail store growth, and we currently expect to continue to open new Yankee Candle retail stores at a pace similar to that of recent years,” said Craig Rydin, chairman and CEO, Yankee Candle.

Yankee expects to incur charges related to the restructuring plan of approximately $18.0 million to $22.0 million total, part of which will be taken in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 and the remainder in the first quarter of 2009.