Blue moon rising
Published: 27 January, 2011
Menswear brand Blue Inc has been expanding rapidly since it was acquired by Marlow Retail five years ago, and the retailer is on the acquisition trail again with 20 new stores
The company, originally trading as Levy & Son, was founded by Abraham Levy in the East End of London as long ago as 1912. It was a third generation family business with 28 stores at the time of the takeover in 2006 when Marlow Retail re-modeled the brand and the name – Blue Inc.
Since then the company has been consistently profitable, forecasting profits of £3m for 2010.
The retailer, now boasting 99 stores, can be found across most areas of the UK including Wales and Northern Ireland, with plans to move into Scotland in the near future.
Seventy per cent of those 99 stores are in shopping centres including Metrocentre, Lakeside, Bluewater, Meadowhall, and the Trafford Centre as well as a wealth of regional and local centres and the company is looking to move into others.
Joint letting agents King Sturge and Brasier Freeth have been appointed to lead the expansion, seeking retail units of 2,500 to 4,000 sq ft – preferably with wide frontages and in prominent corner positions – in shopping centres both in major cities and smaller to mid-sized towns.
There are 44 target areas on the requirements list including Bath, Nottingham, Oxford, Hull, Swansea, Glasgow and Wimbledon with particular interest in the Bullring, Birmingham; Westfield London; Brent Cross and Cribbs Causeway in Bristol.
“Blue Inc is one of the most successful men’s fashion retailers in the market today,” says Martin Crossley, retail partner at King Sturge. “It offers an excellent covenant with quality shopfits and a growing brand profile, and continues to increase its profits year on year when many of its competitors have fallen into administration.”
Russell Jerrard, retail partner at Brasier Freeth, says the agents are in discussions with a number of possible landlords.
“We are in six or seven negotiations” confirms Steven Cohen, Blue Inc’s managing director.
Leading designers Dalziel + Pow were brought in to design a new shopfit format following a re-launch of the brand in Oxford Street in November 2008. The new store design was introduced along with a new focus on womenswear – increasingly offered in larger stores – and footwear.
Blue Inc targets 12-29 year old males and stocks street and contemporary fashions or “urban utility wear” including brands Ben Sherman, Police and NY. Stephen Galea, formerly buying director at Topshop, is head of buying.
Cohen gives Blue Inc’s customer base as one reason why it has been largely untouched by the economic crisis.
“There aren’t many men’s fashion shops in the UK market and many of our competitors went into administration when the recession hit,” explains Cohen.
“Our shoppers are young – between 12 and 29 and I think that’s partly why we’ve been able to continue expanding. That age group doesn’t have to worry too much about things like mortgages and they have disposable income so they weren’t as affected by the credit crunch.”
Cohen says the expansion pattern will continue in the years to follow with plans to have 160 stores in three years time and 200 in five years.
“We’re ready to do the same again in 2012,” he says “We think 20 stores a year is a good number – we tend to open one store every fortnight in the 40 weeks between April and November – anything more than that would make for a hefty shopfit schedule.”
And as for the future, Cohen says there is a possibility that Blue Inc will be floated on the stock market.
There are also plans to move into foreign markets, particularly Russia and the Middle East – Blue Inc opened its first non-UK store in Abu Dhabi in 2009.
“The business is funded for growth,” says Cohen. “And we think we’re an interesting story for landlords.”
