WOOLWORTH in Cyprus has concluded a two-part agreement with UK department store Debenhams, the group’s commercial director confirmed yesterday.
Fintan Straughan told the Cyprus Mail the first part of the agreement involved obtaining operating rights for operating and trading a full Debenhams store on the island. The company’s target is to open the shop’s doors in Nicosia in March 2004, he said.
“For the time being, our only commitment to Debenhams is to open one store in Nicosia, in the future we may open other stores in other towns,” said Straughan.
The second part of the deal is a supply agreement giving access to Debenhams brands and products throughout the existing Woolworth networks on the island.
In other, words a shop-in-shop concept, he said.
However, the Woolworth stores would not offer the complete range of clothes wear available at the full Debenhams flagship store, only certain brand names exclusive to Debenhams.
Meanwhile, the Debenhams store will sell men’s, women’s and children’s clothes wear as well as accessories and the full Debenhams lingerie line.
Straughan said the store’s location had been picked out, but was not yet confirmed so would be made public at a later date. However, he was able to say the total retail space area would cover in the region of 2,500 square metres.
He said: “Woolworth has a long standing policy of forming trading associations with successful retailers and Debenhams is considered the best department operators in the UK, with a programme of expansion and a well established international franchise.”
He also said Debenhams looked for expansion in like-minded retailers and organisations that best represented it.
Debenhams operates 104 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland, with a total retail area of 750,000 square metres. The international franchise department currently operates 10 successful stores in Europe and the Middle and Far East. By the end of 2003, this number will increase to 13, with the operation of three new stores in Prague (Czech Republic), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The Cyprus branch will be the department store’s 14th franchise. According to the company’s financial annual report on August 31, the company’s total sales were worth £1.8 billion sterling, with a clean profit of £168 million sterling.
Straughan added: “Debenhams (also) have the know-how, skills and experience from which we can learn. So this agreement is as much an academic, as well as trading, association.”
Straughan would not disclose the cost of the “substantial investment”.
