He may not have the profile of the retailer’s flamboyant founder Mike Clare, but Dreams’ chief executive has continued its strong growth despite the recession

Nick Worthington

From a young age Nick Worthington knew he was destined for the business world.

Growing up with three academically minded brothers, the Dreams chief executive loved nothing better than thrashing them at a game of Monopoly. “I always had a commercial sense,” recalls Worthington, who says he learned the value of work young and always held summer jobs while studying.

It was at one such job - running a shop at a summer camp - where he learned the joys of retail, inspiring him to apply for a graduate trainee position at Sainsbury’s. Years later, he would end up boss of beds retailer Dreams, steering it to record profits - up 36% to £18.4m last year, as revealed by Retail Week last week.

Worthington says he liked the idea of retail because he knew hard work and common sense would prevail. When he started out in the sector, Worthington’s expectations were realised - he “got a bit of a buzz” and “loved working with people”.

He moved from Sainsbury’s to Comet then electricals rival Norweb, followed by his first foray into the furniture sector at Multiyork.

He joined Dreams in 1997 and never looked back, becoming chief executive in 2008. “It had a mere 17 stores when I joined,” remembers Worthington. “But I couldn’t help but be excited at [founder] Mike Clare’s enthusiasm.

I saw it as a huge opportunity, and it certainly presented a challenge; something to get my teeth into.”

The 46-year-old says he is “very direct” and doesn’t “suffer fools gladly”.

“I’ll give everyone an opportunity and support them all the way, but if they don’t perform I’ll react accordingly,” says Worthington. “I don’t have any qualms about that.”

That’s not to say he is an unnecessarily tough task-master, according to Clare, who sold the business in 2008. “The best thing about Nick is he’s so good with people,” he says. “He’s just so popular. He’s had to let people go before and they always come out saying what a nice bloke he is.”

But Clare agrees that Worthington is no soft touch. “He’s hard and will crack the whip,” he says, adding: “He’s very steady, loyal and hard working. He’s professionalised the business and brought it much more into the big league. It’s slick in the way it’s run.”

The beds specialist has been gaining market share year after year, and the competitive culture created by Worthington has helped. “I’m a very driven individual, with a relentless desire to succeed. I hate to fail and have a tremendous desire for everything to be done well,” he says.

While being “relentlessly demanding”, Worthington also says work has “got to be fun”, and injects that spirit into the business. Spend a short amount of time with the beds supremo and you will be told how buying a bed is one of the most important things you can do. “After all,” he says, “you spend a third of your life in bed, and will most likely be born, die and conceived in one”.

Worthington is married, with two children. “Everything I do is geared towards my family,” he says. Growing up in North Wales, he has a passion for rugby, as well as golf. If he hadn’t turned to retail, he would have joined the police, or “probably more likely, the army, as it provides tremendous variety and opportunities”.

But the army’s loss is retail’s gain. Under Worthington’s watch, Dreams has continued the growth started by Clare, undiminished even by the recession when big-ticket retailers suffered.

Dreams in numbers

  • 240 stores
  • 45 store openings planned this year
  • £280m of revenue last year
  • 50,000 number of mattresses to be recycled by the end of the year - if stacked on top of each other, the mattress mountain would be higher than Mount Everest