The 2 companies, Chain Reaction and Wiggle, have been run by administrators for weeks and they have already announced that their sale may be imminent. But the current news is that international sales are closed - Wiggle CRC stores make 85% of UK sales. This led to the decision to close international sales.
How did they go from being leading stores around the world to focusing the business primarily in the UK? Well, Brexit played an important role and the loss of international competitiveness is attributed to the increase in costs it entailed.
Not many years ago Chain Reaction Cycles was a global reference in e-commerce. An online store breaking barriers with online sales wasn't as common as it is today. Over time it changed hands and no one could imagine that, years later, it would end up closing international sales to focus on UK-only sales. And that's what appears to be happening, with both Chain Reaction Cycles and Wiggle.
Of course, both stores will honor returns and warranties for international orders already placed.
