Designer nursery brand Mamas & Papas is one of very few retailers riding the waves of the current economic downturn. In fact the retailer is doing so well that it has announced the locations of a number of new stores in a major retail expansion programme.
These include Victoria Square in Belfast, which opens on December 22 this year, Westfield in West London, opening in February 2009, Capital retail park in Cardiff and Sprucefield in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, both opening in March/April 2009, and Gallagher retail park in Birmingham, opening in April 2009. The openings are in addition to the Nottingham store, which is planned for November 2008 at Giltbrook retail park.
Mamas & Papas is also in talks for stores in Colliers Wood, Croydon and the St David's centre in Cardiff, and deputy chief executive Richard Faulkner says the company will continue to look for more locations, particularly around the M25 area.
Mamas & Papas has come a long way since its beginnings 30 years ago, when it dealt purely in wholesale. Ten years ago it opened its first retail store and it now has 32 stores across the UK and Ireland, some large format, others smaller 'satellite' stores. The company's planned stores vary in size from 6,000 sq ft at Victoria Square to 15,000 sq ft at Sprucefield, with the smaller concept stores selling the faster-moving articles.
Faulkner explains: "We have to be careful we don't cannibalise our existing business. In Birmingham we have a store in the Bullring and in Solihull, but we could see Gallagher retail park was a place we could open without damaging our other stores."
Faulkner reports that baby wear and maternity wear are the fastest growing areas of the business. Baby wear is up 33 per cent year-on-year, maternity wear is up 24 per cent, while the gifts section is close behind at 23 per cent up. In addition the furniture ranges have reported a 7 per cent uplift year-on-year.
So what's the secret of this success?
"I think understanding our customers is a major part," says Faulkner, who has been with the company almost from the start. "The brand is really key. We're probably one of the only nursery companies that design our own products. We develop them and then have them manufactured, so we're pretty exclusive."
Faulkner believes the credit crunch won't really affect Mamas & Papas. "Even if there's a recession people will always find money for these types of products, and families and friends will often help out if the parents are a little short. Grandparents in particular want everything they couldn't afford for their own children and that's where Mamas & Papas comes in."
The company still deals with wholesale, supplying ranges to a number of independent retailers and also to John Lewis and Harrods. But it's the international market that's taking off in a really big way.
"I realised about two or three years ago that people were coming to the UK, seeing our stores and writing to me from an international perspective," says Faulkner. "Two years ago we opened our flagship store in Regent Street (the only store to also have its own restaurant) to assist in terms of international expansion, but at the same time I decided the Middle East was an area we should look at and I had a list of 12 people that wanted to take the franchise. After long negotiations we chose the Altayer Group, and we've opened stores with them in places like Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We're also in the process of opening in Saudi Arabia."
Faulkner is also in final negotiations with Russia, Greece and all the Balkan countries, as well as talking to Turkey and the Nordic states. "The big markets to pick off are India and China, and that will come towards the end of next year, although people are already contacting us about those," he adds. "All these negotiations will culminate in over 100 stores over the next five years, and that's just for starters."
Recession proof? All the signs are looking that way.
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=== Statistics ===
Mamas & Papas
Number of stores in UK and Ireland: 32
Turnover (2007): over £130m
Like-for-like sales: up 10.5 per cent overall
Baby wear like-for-like sales: up 33 per cent
Maternity wear like-for-like sales: up 24 per cent
Gifts like-for-like sales: up 23 per cent
Total selling space: 225,791 sq ft
Joint founders: David and Luisa Scacchetti
Managing director, retail arm: Marek Laskowski
Deputy chief executive: Richard Faulkner
Website: [http://www.mamasandpapas.co.uk]
