QD trials pop-ups - opens smaller stores
Value retailer QD Stores is set to diversify into smaller high street premises. The independently-owned Norwich-based Group, whose outlets extend from the East of England and Home Counties as far as Doncaster in the north and Wrexham in the west, is also trialling the temporary pop-up store concept this Christmas (2011). The company, which now operates 38 retail outlets under the QD, Buyright, Lathams and Cherry Lane Garden Centre brands, has opened its first pop-up outlet in Swaffham, Norfolk. The Buyright store trades through the Christmas peak period until January. If successful, QD proposes to open more temporary stores during 2012 in addition to expanding into smaller premises. The Group, whose smallest store occupies 3,500 sq ft of retail space, is targeting outlets of around 1,200 sq ft says CEO Justin Farrington-Smith. “As a group, we are committed to Britain’s market towns,” says Justin. “Temporarily occupying vacant space in the high street makes commercial sense to us and serves our core consumer audience. “Smaller outlets, whether temporary or longer-term, provide a means of enabling our brands to penetrate town centres even more comprehensively,” he adds. The Group is actively soliciting landlords of small and short-let properties within central, north and east England.
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