Outdoor clothing retailer Mountain Warehouse has seen its sales hitting an all-time high, and is to accelerate the pace of its new and bigger store openings as a result, the company said.
It wants to establish up to 50 more locations next year, including its first in Australia, with new outlets opening every week until Christmas.
It had its busiest Black Friday weekend ever, with sales of more over £ 10 million, and reported that the most recent month overall achieved recorded revenues as the company returns to profit.
The company has 370 stores in eight countries, with the current openings adding to the 35 opened last year as consumers return to physical shopping in huge numbers.
In the year to the end of February, the company’s sales increased by 22.6% to £ 371 million, the most in its 26-year history. While there was a tiny £ 1.5 million loss “due to soaring freight and energy costs,” the company has “rebounded strongly” since then, with record H1 sales of £ 171 million until the end of August and underlying profits of £ 6.7 million.
Larger stores are a primary priority for the company, which has been expanding into retail parks. In addition to former Topshop locations, it is in talks to acquire some ex-Wilko locations.
It went on to say that the larger locations allow it to sell a considerably greater choice of products, some of which were developed for the web business during the pandemic. It also allows for the inclusion of skiwear sections and the promotion of the purchased Animal lifestyle brand (on that front, three freestanding Animal shops have just opened in Cornwall and north Wales).
