Published
Jun 17, 2016
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Smiggle ramps up UK expansion despite looming Brexit vote

Published
Jun 17, 2016

Despite the Brexit vote looming over the UK in recent months, Australian lifestyle retailer Smiggle is ramping up plans for more store openings across Britain.


Australia's Smiggle to have 70 UK stores by June 30, 2016. - Smiggle


Owned by Premier Investments - the group behind fashion retailers Dotti, Peter Alexander, Portmans, Peter Alexander, Just Jeans, and Jacqui E. - Smiggle will add another 28 outlets to its UK chain in the six months to June 30, pushing the total to 70 stores by the end of the financial year and 100 shops by Christmas 2016.

Premier Investment chief executive Mark McInnes brushed off fears Britain's exit from the European Union could inhibit sales growth at the kids stationery store. 

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, the CEO said he didn't think Smiggle's customers were worried about the Brexit and it was those kids that were driving sales through its expanding UK network.

"I don't think five-year-olds really understand what the Brexit is," McInnes told SMH. "I think pester power is stronger than consumer sentiment. The child drives the demand from the parents, I don't think it (Brexit) will have any impact on us, I think it will have an impact on sentiment, it might have an impact on the UK economy but I don't think it will have any impact on demand from kids for school pencils, school backpacks, school lunch boxes."

Smiggle's global sales jumped 46.5 per cent higher in the first half of fiscal 2016.

Premier said its UK operation was on track to deliver more than $200 million in annual revenue within five years.

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