The blueprint for the two-floor, 5,500 sq ft shop has been created by Leicestershire-based consultancy Design4Retail. Features include a new merchandising system intended to showcase the major brands stocked by the retailer.
The ground level has an oak floor with ribbon slate used to form a walkway though the space and aid in-store navigation.
Upstairs, the entire floor is devoted to tents, which will be erected in situ. Nevisport general manager Rab Ferrell said: “We’re trying to present a clean, relatively modern look.”
Ferrell said that the revamped fit-out would be retro-fitted to Nevisport’s 10 other stores to create a consistent look across the chain. He declined to give a timescale for future expansion, but said he expected the retailer to have 20 outlets ultimately.
Ferrell added that he was considering opening stores in the London area in a move away from Nevisport’s predominantly Scottish and northern England heartland. “There’s a much larger catchment down there and they can nip across the channel to the Alps. We would like a presence in most major cities,” he said.
Nevisport was founded in Fort William, Scotland – which is still the location of its flagship – in 1970 by Ian Sutherland and Ian Sykes, two members of the local Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team. It went into administration last year and was snapped up by Jacobs & Turner, the Glasgow-based outdoor clothing brand owner that trades as Trespass from 50 stores in the UK.
Ferrell said that the takeover had been a positive experience for the retailer. “What we had before wasn’t necessarily broken, but it wasn’t running on all cylinders,” he said. “Now we’re benefiting from new finance and stocking some new speciality lines.”
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