Coach handbags to close 70 retail stores

Upscale retailer Coach said it would close 70 of its 350 North American stores over the next year and announced a bleak outlook for its business.

The move will shutter about one of every eight retail locations. Coach is also going to scale back its factory outlet business, with five fewer stores. There is no word on what that means for the Fresno store or Tulare outlet store.

The company says it will also renovate key locations in its best performing markets.

Coach handbags sell for several hundred dollars to mostly upper-middle class customers. Sales recovered after the great recession, but have since slumped, dropping 21 percent last quarter.