Blacks sales soar
Outdoor retailer recovers as visitors return to countryside
July 12 2002
Blacks Leisure saw a sales increase of 40 per cent in the 18 weeks to July 6.
Like-for-like sales for the outdoor retailer which operates the Blacks Outdoor, Free Spirit and Millets chains, were up by 20 per cent.
Sales last year were badly hit by the foot-and-mouth epidemic, which closed off large areas of the countryside and kept visitors away.
The company has continued expansion of it core brands through conversion of the Famous Army Store outlets acquired last year, and will operate 62 Blacks Outdoor stores and 245 Millets stores to 245 by the end of the summer.
Surfing brand Free Spirit now operates from 28 stores, with four new stores due to opened by the year-end. A new O’Neill store, the surfing brand operated in the UK under licence, opened recently in Glasgow, bringing the total to nine.
