Following the announcement of Card Factory’s interim results on Tuesday (link to Tuesday’s Card Factory story) part of which mentioned that it was piloting concessions in other retailers’ stores, Karen Hubbard, ceo of the business revealed to PG Buzz that these are being installed in Office Outlets stores, planning to open in six stores.
“The concessions in the excess space of Office Outlet stores which tend to be on bulky retail parks where we would not want a stand alone outlet, but are happy to make use of excess space of a retailer,” explained Karen.
Playing down the significance of this development, Karen said: “It’s a small trial – no big deal.”
Office Outlets is trading under a CVA (which was approved earlier this month). Under the CVA four of its 95 stores are set to close, while rents will be reduced on the rest of its estate, including free rent for three years on 20 of its stores.
As its name suggests the chain sells office-related products for business and consumer use.
The Card Factory Office Outlet concession pilot will run concurrently with the trials underway with Aldi stores, which involves a small fixture of Card Factory’s best selling cards being installed in 12 stores in the north of the UK.
Card Factory is to also test a franchised model, confirming that it is to open a store in Jersey on this basis in the next month.
In addition, Telois Capital, an active hedge fund has recently acquired a 5% stake in Card Factory, which resulted in its share price increasing by 8%.
Top: Card Factory is to install concessions in six Office Outlet superstores.
