Tesco opens first F&F European franchise stores
Tesco has opened its first European franchise stores for its F&F clothing brand.
The supermarket has partnered with Coop, Switzerland’s second biggest retailer, to open seven new stores in the Zurich area with plans to open more Swiss stores in the future. The brand has launched in Coop’s hypermarket stores and its city department stores.
F&F has also opened two stores in Gibraltar, in conjunction with franchise partner Pisa International. The two stores, which include the first F&F Kids store, opened to the public last week.
The openings follow the launch of F&F’s first franchise stores in Saudi Arabia in May 2012 and franchise agreements in Central Asia and across the Middle East.
F&F now operates a total of 32 franchise stores with more planned in the coming months.
Jason Tarry, chief wxecutive of F&F said: “F&F has performed really strongly over the last twelve months, so we’re delighted to announce these new franchise agreements in Switzerland and Gibraltar, our first franchise stores in Europe.
“These partnerships enable us to operate in markets we don’t already have a presence in and benefit from the local expertise of our franchise partners. We now have more than 30 franchise stores internationally and we’ll be looking to open even more in the coming months to help grow the F&F brand and offer it to even more customers.”
F&F clothing is currently on sale in 16 countries, including stand-alone stores in the Czech Republic and Poland. There are currently 19 stand-alone stores operating under the franchise model in Saudi Arabia, with further franchise stores in Georgia and Kazakhstan.
In the UK F&F sales exceeded over £1 billion last year and increased by 9%.
