Bras N Things development manager Richard Wood revealed the brand sees space for at least another 50 stores across Australia and New Zealand. The goal is to reach 250 sites by 2015.
“We're pretty well covered but there's a number of areas where we still see opportunity,” Wood said. “Even in areas like Sydney – for example the whole northern side of Sydney – there's plenty of opportunity for us. We don't have anything out at Warringah Mall, Hornsby, Chatswood, that sort of area.”
The next store openings will be in Bull Creek and Albany, both in Western Australia, scheduled to be trading by June. They follow the recent opening of Bras N Things' sole store in the Northern Territory.
“That gets us back into every state and territory in Australia,” Wood said. The company also has 21 stores in New Zealand.
Bras N Things' ongoing store refurbishments program is also a quarter of the way complete, with 45 of 200 stores now carrying the new 'pink' look designed by Coma retail architects.
“As [leases] come up we'll change them to the new look but on top of that there are a number of stores where we think we're over-trading in that we could trade more out of a larger store footprint,” he said. “If opportunities come up for larger stores in some of those centres then we'll certainly be negotiating with the landlords to see if we can up-size some of those stores.”
Another change has been Bras N Things' tweaking of its base of 'platinum' stores over the past year. Located in the busiest shopping centres and with larger floor spaces, the platinum stores carry broader ranges, broader sizes and more colourways.
“Initially we had 20 platinum stores in the range... But we saw the opportunity beyond 20 because there was a higher level of success coming out of the financials of those stores, so we have expanded it to 30,” Wood revealed.
He was unable to comment on rumours Bras N Things is gearing for a listing on the stock exchange, but confirmed the company was “optimistic” about trade.
“I think the fact there's been so many stores and we see the opportunity to continue to open stores displays our optimism in how we're going,” he said.Bras N Things is owned by BB Retail Capital and private investors.
Erin O'Loughlin