Value retailer QS is to disappear from the high street by 2011 as Mumbai-based owner Alok Industries ramps up conversions to its Store Twenty One fascia.
There are about 50 Store Twenty One shops in the UK at present, with the remainder of the 211 portfolio made up of QS shops.
Dilip Jiwrajka, chairman of Alok Industries, which acquired QS Group in 2007, said the success of the Store Twenty One format has provided the impetus for rapid growth. He said: “We will open 500 stores in the UK.”
He plans to export the formula to India, where he will open 100 shops in the “next 12 to 18 months”, rising to 1,000 stores “within five years”.
The first Store Twenty One shop was designed by Dalziel + Pow in Pitsea, Essex, in 2008. The latest to open is in Retford, Nottinghamshire, in December.
Anupam Jhunjhunwala, chief executive of Store Twenty One and QS in the UK, said a further five sites will open in the early part of this year, and another eight sites are in solicitors’ hands.
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