Witco Chennai: Not an easy decision! 70-year-old iconic luggage brand shuts down business due to Covid-19

A 70-year-old luggage retail brand Witco (India) Pvt Limited from Chennai has shut down its business due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "We regret to inform you that we have closed down our business. The decision to close down this business was not an easy one, but unfortunately due to COVID-19 and the restrictions on international travel it was not sustainable for us," the company said on its official website.

It further added that "We would like to thank all of our customers and our esteemed clientele for their patronage over the last 70 years."

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Speaking to The Hindu, the firm's managing director V.P. Harris, said, “We shut down our operations in January itself. What really happened was last March [2020] when the first lockdown was announced we (the family) sat together and evaluated the business and we found that international travel will not happen for a long time.”

He further said that “My father founded the business and ran it for almost 25 years, and now in its 70th year my brother and I who have been running the show since, wound up operations. The current unprecedented circumstances left us with no other option.”

The company started its journey in the year 1951 as West India Plastic Trading Co at George Town in Chennai. The firm gradually expanded its presence during the 1970s in Kochi, Kozhikode and Coimbatore and after a few years, it also entered the Karnataka market.