Mountain Warehouse eyes 50 new stores next year
Mountain Warehouse is targeting 50 new store openings in 2024 as it records all-time-high sales this year.
The outdoor and camping retailer is opening a new store every week in the run-up to Christmas, building on its estate of 370 sites worldwide.
Mountain Warehouse opened new stores in Swindon and Newark last week and will open shops in Lincoln, Hexham, and Stratford-upon-Avon before Christmas.
The retailer has also opened three standalone Animal shops in the coastal towns of Padstow, Bude and Abersoch.
Mountain Warehouse recently agreed to join Lancaster’s Marketgate shopping centre.
This comes as Mountain Warehouse reported a record revenue of £371m in the year ending February 2023. This was a year-on-year increase of 22.6%, although the retailer recorded a loss of £1.5m due to increased costs.
During the six months to 31 August 2023, the retailer saw its sales increase to £171m and its underlying profit reach £6.7m, bolstered by a wet summer which saw an increase in sales of waterproof jackets.
Mark Neale, founder of Mountain Warehouse, said: “During Covid, there was a belief that nobody was ever going to go to a store again, and their days were numbered, but that’s proved to be completely wide of the mark. Whilst our online business had a big boost during the pandemic and continues to go from strength to strength, our stores have bounced back with gusto showing that customers want to shop both channels.”