Mothercare has begun a major shift away from the high street and is to focus on out-of town stores.
It has sold 11 of its prime high street outlets to Gap.
The fashion retailer has snapped up the leases on 11 Mothercare stores for £8.5m. The rapidly expanding US retailer moved swiftly to exchange contracts on deals that will add 9,847m2 (106,000 sq ft) of selling space, only three weeks after Mothercare’s parent Storehouse announced that it would be shedding Mothercare shops in high streets and shopping centres.
Three weeks ago, when Storehouse unveiled lacklustre results, which were followed by the departure of chief executive Keith Edelman, the company said it would sell 68 shops. However, Nigel Franks, Storehouse’s head of property, told EG this week that the company had not produced a list of shops for sale. Instead, it was talking to a number of retailers which were proposing to buy packages of shops and considering each deal on its merits.
“The larger MothercareWorld out-of-town stores are performing better than some of the in-town stores,” he said. “We plan to work through the portfolio but we don’t want to divest before we’re ready to invest.”
One retail agent said: “I think that if anyone goes along and says ‘I want these stores, or these’, they would talk with them.” Other retailers talking to Storehouse include HMV/Waterstones, Hennes, Next, Virgin and Zara.
The deal with Gap includes prime shops at locations that will broaden Gap’s presence in Lakeside in Thurrock, Nottingham, Argyll Street in Glasgow and Princes Street in Edinburgh. It gives the acquisitive company its first shops in Liverpool, Ipswich, Derby, Sutton Coldfield, Epsom, Stirling, Inverness and Perth.
Michael Peddar & Co acted for Gap.
