Fred Olsen to open first concept store as it eyes retail expansion
Branch will be agency’s 18th, with more planned later in year
ValVades
Fred Olsen Travel is to open its first concept store with a target of making it the retail chain’s highest turnover branch within three years.
The agency’s 18th store will also be its most high profile branch in terms of its location, opening in The Beacon shopping centre in Eastbourne, which attracts 12 million visitors a year.
The store is due to open on June 26, with an official launch on July 10.
More: Fred Olsen Travel promotes Paul Hardwick to director of retail
Fred Olsen Travel hails record start to year
Director of retail Paul Hardwick said the agency was working with five supplier sponsors, all of which have signed up to a three year deal in return for in-store branding, marketing and dedicated promotions.
Although the suppliers will not be exclusively sold through the concept store, they will be the shop’s “key focus” for sales during the first three years, said Hardwick.
The store will boast two large high-tech screens in the windows and four screens inside, and will initially employ three members of staff.
Hardwick said: “We are working with five suppliers who are helping to brand the shop. We’re trying to make it profitable from day one – that’s crucial. The sponsors will get marketing in the store and promotions on the TV screens. They will be our key focus in the first few years.”
Hardwick hopes the store will become the agency’s biggest branch by turnover within three years.
“It will give us three years with the partners to build the business significantly,” he added.
The primary retail location represents a new move for Fred Olsen Travel as most of its stores are in secondary locations.
“To go from our current shops to a real prime store location is really exciting,” said Hardwick.
The shop will be the agency’s second in East Sussex. Its Heathfield store opened last year and has already achieved a £2 million turnover in its first year.
Hardwick said he was looking at other potential sites for new stores or relocations from secondary to primary locations. “I am working on other opportunities,” he said. “I’d like to get to 20 stores by the end of the year. We have a strategy for the future.”
Photo: The Beacon shopping centre, Eastbourne. Credit Peter Cripps
More: Fred Olsen Travel promotes Paul Hardwick to director of retail
