Lifestyle retailer White Stuff has laid out plans to almost double its portfolio within five years.
White Stuff chief executive Sally Bailey said: “We’re opening 10 new stores over the next six months and six more after that. I’d be comfortable with 120 stores, but what I’m looking at for the moment is the formats of our stores and making them appropriate for their locations.”
White Stuff’s forthcoming store in Edinburgh, for example, will be about four times the size of a standard White Stuff store. The 6,500 sq ft shop covers three floors and is scheduled to open in November.
The news comes as the retailer revealed underlying EBITDA rocketed 38% to £18.4m on sales that soared 43% to £83.7m, in the 52 weeks to May 1.
Bailey said White Stuff had benefited from expanding its product ranges, including the footwear and loungewear offer. She added the retailer remained confident about prospects for growth and was doubling the size of its distribution centre, investing in a new IT system and increasing space 5% at head office.
However, she expressed caution over pricing in the next 12 months, citing rising raw material and labour costs in China and India. She said: “You have to give customers more in terms of selling prices. What we can’t be doing is putting prices up across the board.”
White Stuff trades from 67 stores in the UK.
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