Mid-market furniture chain Dwell is opening department store concessions for the first time as it seeks to widen its appeal.

The retailer opened its first concession in Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street this week, taking a 4,000 sq ft space, and is in talks to open in House of Fraser at Bluewater and Oxford Street.

Dwell founder and managing director Aamir Ahmad said the House of Fraser concessions should open in the summer and if they are successful more will be rolled out “across the country”.

Ahmad said that trading is “not too bad”, with a “tough” start to the year, but sales are getting “back in line again now”. He added that the retailer’s slowing sales had “a lot to do with our marketing stance”. “We took the decision to cut back on marketing, which was the wrong thing to do but we’ve upped our spend now which has proved effective.”

Ahmad said Dwell is opening concessions based on the fact the 13-store chain’s smaller, boutique-style stores are “really successful”.

Dwell’s concession plans will run alongside further standalone store openings. Ahmad said: “We’re still looking at a couple of openings this year, but are more cautious than last year. Concessions are a low-risk way to expand into places we would be cautious to do so with our own stores.”

Ahmad said he hoped the concessions will attract “quite different customers” to its own stores and will feature a “much more tightly edited” range. He added: “Selfridges and House of Fraser fit our brand and have the best customer pitch for us.”

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