Retail Week Interiors - Extreme Group set to rebrand Legends stores

Online and mail order surf, skate and snow retailer, Extreme Group, is to rebrand the Legends Surf Shops that it recently acquired from administrative receivership with backing from Aspen Capital.

Al Gosling, chief executive officer of the Extreme Group, said 'the majority' of the 21 stores it has secured as a result of the deal will become Extreme Shops, but that the makeover will be restricted to a fascia-change and in-store branding rather than a major store redesign.

Gosling said: 'A lot of money has been spent on the Legends stores in the past couple of years and the fixtures and fittings look really good. We also have an internal creative team, so we don't see any need to change things too much.'

Details of the store rebranding have not been confirmed, but Gosling says it will be handled by new managing director Steve Hazell, previously sales and marketing director at action sports retailer Snow+Rock.

A source says it is likely that Extreme will end up with between 16 to 18 of the Legends stores, with the remainder being sold. Several of the stores acquired by Extreme were not trading at the time of the deal.

Extreme Group has also been approached by a third party, with an offer of a number of sites that previously housed Gymboree stores, the toy retailer that decided to exit the UK last month.

Gosling declined to comment, but said: 'The overall goal is to build a significant retail chain in our sector, fully integrated with our existing TV, Internet and mail order operations.'