SYDNEY: RCG Corporation has launched the first Australian flagship store for the Merrell lifestyle brand, amid sales growth across the company.
The group, which operates The Athlete’s Foot chain of footwear stores, became the Australian distributor for Merrell on January 1 this year. Located in Castle Towers shopping centre, Sydney, the new store offers hiking footwear and outdoor performance apparel. RCG also operates a wholesale division for the brand. It reported that Merrell sales for the first half of the current financial year will be on, or slightly ahead of target.
The company also opened a new store for its Shoe Superstore business in Lane Cove, Sydney. It has also revised its share sale agreement with the former owners of Shoe Superstore, to secure their expertise in the business.
In exchange for forgoing a possible performance based earn-out payment, RCG has granted the former owners 1.5 million RCG options at an exercise price of $0.66, plus a guaranteed cash payment of $1.1 million over five years. This is provided the pair remain employed by the group through to June 30, 2015.
RCG reported that Shoe Superstore achieved double digit like-for-like sales growth for the five months to the end of November this year.
It also announced that The Athlete’s Foot chain experienced like-for-like growth of 6.6 per cent for the five months to the end of November this year. This included a like-for-like growth in November of 10.3 per cent. It said growth for the first two weeks of December was in excess of five per cent compared to the same time last year.