QD Stores diversifies into smaller stores and trials pop-ups

Value retailer QD Stores has announced plans to diversify into smaller high street premises and trial a pop-up store.

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, also plans to trial a temporary pop-up store concept in the run-up to Christmas.

The company, which 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-branded store will trade through the Christmas peak period until January.

If successful, QD plans 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.

Group managing director Justin Farrington-Smith said: “As a group, we are committed to Britain’s market towns. 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.”

The group said it is actively soliciting landlords of small and short-let properties within central, north and east England.

Source : The Retail Bulletin
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