Search
Close this search box.

‘Doom-mongers’ wrong on death of high street says Mountain Warehouse founder, reporting record Christmas sales

This is an archived article - we have removed images and other assets but have left the text unchanged for your reference

Shoppers spent more than £2.5m with Mountain Warehouse on Black Friday 2019, its biggest trading day yet. Its results show, says founder Mark Neale, that “doom-mongers” predicting the death of the high street are wrong.

Neale was speaking as he reported a boost to sales at the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer in the 13 weeks to December 29. Sales of £95.8m were up by 16.2% on the same time last year, while online sales grew by 21.6% over the same period. Sister company and gifting and stationery specialist Neon Sheep saw its sales more than double to £3.2m at the same time. 

The retailer, ranked Top150 in IRUK Top500 research, says it is now on track for record full-year profits. 

Mountain Warehouse founder and chief executive Mark Neale said: “I’m delighted to be reporting record Christmas trading for the 22nd year running, despite the snap election and some economic uncertainties around Brexit.

“It demonstrates the success of our bricks and clicks strategy and proves the doom-mongers predicting the death of the high street are wrong. 

“If you have the right locations, customers will come and if you have the right products at the right price and also provide great service they will part with their hard-earned money. This puts us well on course for another record year and, as a result, we are continuing to invest in more stores, new territories and our online business.”

Mountain Warehouse sells online and through 400 shops in nine countries. During the 13 week period it opened around nine new stores in the UK, Germany, Poland, North America and New Zealand, of which four opened on Black Friday itself. It plans to open a further 50 shops in 2020. 

Over the 13 weeks, more than three million customers bought Mountain Warehouse products including more than 500,000 pairs of socks, more than a million winter jackets and about a million winter hats, gloves and scarves.

Image courtesy of Mountain Warehouse

Read More

Register for Newsletter

Group 4 Copy 3Created with Sketch.

Receive 3 newsletters per week

Group 3Created with Sketch.

Gain access to all Top500 research

Group 4Created with Sketch.

Personalise your experience on IR.net