The lifestyle retailer, a favourite among affluent yummy mummies, will launch an own-brand footwear range and expanded accessories offer in April. It has also successfully trialled a nightwear range.
Chief executive Sally Bailey told Retail Week that like-for-likes from May to the end of last week rose 7 per cent. Total sales were up 40 per cent, driven by new space.
The retailer – which last month called off the search for a buyer of a minority slice of founders George Greves and Sean Thomas’s 80 per cent stake in the business – will now focus on broadening its ranges and expansion in the UK.
“It is about offering the bits that the customers haven’t had,” said Bailey. She would not be drawn on whether the retailer will launch a range outside the fashion market in a category such as homewares.
The retailer has also relaunched its web site to reflect its store feel and overall brand proposition. Online sales for the period are up 80 per cent year on year.
Bailey said the retailer has been so far shielded from the economic downturn thanks to its positioning off the high street and its loyal customer base. “What our customer wants is not what is on the high street,” said Bailey. “They want quality, something distinctive and attention to detail.”
The retailer will open three stores in the next month at Marlborough in Wiltshire, Shrewsbury in Shropshire and Cardiff.
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