Crew Clothing expansion will focus on market and coastal towns

Lifestyle fashion brand Crew clothes is targeting rapid physical store expansion with plans to open up to 12 new locations this year in the UK and Ireland alone.

Chief executive David Butler said three of the stores would open as early as mid-April, two of them in the south-east of England and one in Ireland.

The company has been experimenting with store expansion ideas and will open eight to 12 stores this year, with a focus on towns and coastal areas. It’s an interesting approach that perhaps reflects the changing priorities of post-pandemic consumers with more shopping locally and consumers clearly wanting to stay away from all that on shore. UK sea.

But it may also reflect the high costs associated with downtown core stores, especially as business rates remain a pain for many retail chains.

Butler also stressed that the company isn’t focused on city expansion, but it’s also not ignoring cities as it will be looking at third-party links for its downtown business.

The company currently has around 100 stores in the British Isles.