Or at least that’s the way Cecil Gee, recently abbreviated to Gee, might have seemed to shoppers who have not visited some of the UK’s higher-profile shopping centres. This is because since chief executive officer Philip Mountford assumed the top role at Gee and sister retail chain Moss Bros, in 2003, this is a brand that has undergone a transformation.

By Mounford’s own admission, Cecil Gee was a retail name “that was becoming tired,” one that could easily be bypassed by shoppers looking for formal menswear or upper mid-market men's casualwear. There had been outlets in fashion destinations such as Covent Garden and Chelsea for decades, although the Moss Bros group had only bought the Cecil Gee chain from its founders in 1988. There was however a sense that this was a brand overtaken by events and that a new direction needed to be taken.

In the event, the path chosen was to move the Gee brand more generally into shopping centres and to give stores, merchandise and advertising a a makeover. “Gee performs in high-footfall centres. It needs dwell-time. So it is very different to a high street retailer and you tend to find that the basket size is bigger in the malls,” says Mountford.

One of the first shops to open with a new-look interior and exterior was in Bluewater. In a departure from the traditional feel of Gee as an upscale men’s outfitter, this store had more of the feel of a lifestyled fashion offer. Mountford employed an external consultancy to create a new look and feel for the branch, which won awards when it first opened “but now looks old. It looks sterile and needs greater warmth.” That said, this was one of the new generation of Gee stores in shopping centres and as such was a landmark for the company.

Things have subsequently moved on. Refurbishments are now under way in the Trafford Centre, Canary Wharf, Meadowhall and the Bluewater store has the shopfitters in again. This is still a modestly sized chain; there are 18 stores. Mountford comments: “We will take the chain up to 30 stores – in shopping centres.”

This may not sound a lot, but as Mountford points out, stores vary in size from 3,000 to 5,000 sq ft and cost between “£400,000 to £500,000 a time” (excluding the cost of renting a unit), making expansion relatively expensive. The question also has to be asked, how many Cecil Gee stores can the UK support? These are upscale shops and the number of centres that can accommodate this kind of proposition is relatively few.

Mountford’s commitment to malls rather than high streets seems to be paying off however: “Brent Cross is phenomenal. It’s going to do £2.65m this year, which with a store that measures 1,200 sq ft, means that it’s doing about £2,000 per sq ft,” he says. He tempers this enthusiasm by saying that the average yield for the chain is £693 per sq ft – which means that there must be a number of stores in the portfolio that are crying out for a much-needed revamp.

Mountford continues to spurt figures: “The business took £30m last year and we are 10 per cent ahead of that at the moment. The average transaction in a Gee store is £84 and Lakeside is running at 28 per cent ahead of last year.”

For the rest of this year and through the early part of 2007, the concentration will be on refurbishments. It will not be until the second half of 2007 that the opening programme will actually resume.

So what happens when the magic 30-shop figure is reached? Mountfield says that the only way for the retailer to progress would be acquisition. He rules out overseas expansion: “At the top end, the problem with being a brand distributor is that you can’t always get into every destination. There may be independents already stocking some of the brands that we have.” There is also the point that many of the brands stocked by Gee are owned, under franchise, by UK companies. This makes international growth in territories where the brands may have different owners, difficult.

And problems? Mountford says that the only real instance is Merryhill. The shop there closed in October. Better-heeled customers had already headed for the centre of Brum attracted by the siren call of Bulling, the Mailbox et al. So why not put a store in the centre of that city? The reason, according to Mountford, is that there are too many independents stocking the brands that shoppers may find in Gee. This then is a retailer increasingly to be found only in shopping centres. With its sleek stores and up-to-the-minute clothing, it must be a target for any aspiring mall owner.

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