From busts to boom as shop grows

Published on Friday 15 September 2006 12:41

RAUNCHY retailer Ann Summers is set for a major expansion in Edinburgh after its city centre branch recorded the best sales figures in the UK.

The company, which specialises in risque lingerie and sex toys and is led by chief executive Jacqueline Gold, said it had started the hunt for bigger premises in the city.

The flagship Princes Street store now has the best sales-per-square-foot ratio out of all 137 Anne Summers stores in the UK and Ireland.

When the store was first unveiled in 2002, its opening day sales were the best in the company's 30-year-history - beating other flagship shops in Dublin and London's Oxford Street.

And the popularity of the shop has continued to rise in the four years since it opened, forcing the company to look at expanding.

A spokesman for Ann Summers said: "As the Edinburgh store is doing so well, Ann Summers will be on the lookout for possible expansion to other premises in the city.

"The reason for the high sales figures isn't because the city only has one Ann Summers store, because there are many other cities that also only have one of our stores.

"I guess it must be down to the people in the Edinburgh area simply wanting to buy more sexy products than those in other areas."

He said that no premises in the city had yet been identified and, until a site was found, the company was happy to stay put in Princes Street.

When the store opened, there had been fears that it's risque products would turn Princes Street into a "downmarket" area.

But Graham Birse, from Edinburgh's Chamber of Commerce, said that had been proved unfounded.

"There's no doubt that Princes Street should be our flagship shopping area and we still don't have an acceptable mix of quality stores on it, but I don't think that Ann Summers has had anything to do with that.

"If anything, they are one of the biggest success stories in the city and certainly one of the biggest on Princes Street.

"There are many other stores along the street that have brought its image down, while Ann Summers has been one of the few shops that has done very well."

He said that although there was a shortage of available, prime retail premises in the city, he was quite certain that the company would be able to find a new home.

He added: "I am sure if they work with the council then a search will commence to find them a new, suitable location in the city centre.

"Edinburgh needs to keep its commercial success stories, so I'm sure the city authorities will not want to see them go if they can't find somewhere bigger."

Fiona Moriarty, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium,

said: "In Edinburgh, we have been seeing a growing demand in recent years for larger footprint stores.

"And these sorts of stores which retailers want, with good access and good functionality, aren't always available.

"This is an issue that city council are very aware of and are working with the city centre management company to find available gap sites and increase the number of larger stores in Edinburgh.

City Council leader Ewan Aitken said more large stores would be created when the St James Shopping Centre is redeveloped. He said: "My early conversations with the people who are developing the St James Centre is that this is a key thing for them to look at."