Furniture retailer set to open first store in Belfast next month

A FURNITURE retailer is set to open a new store inside the current DFS premises at Boucher Road, Belfast.

Dwell, which was bought by furniture giant DFS in August 2014, will open the new store on October 4.

It will be the company’s first outlet in Northern Ireland. According to its website, Dwell aims to offer “great furniture design that doesn’t cost a fortune”.

Dwell said that the Belfast store will offer the “best in stylish, modern furniture, including designer sofas and contemporary beds to personalise your home”.

It sell designs for all areas of the home including bedroom, dining, lounge and home office, as well as offering a range of home accessories.

The firm currently has 37 other stores across the UK, with a Cardiff location opened in August.

Dwell was started by Aamir Ahmad in 2003 and went on to open 23 stores, primarily in London and the South East of England. The company was sold in October 2012 but entered administration less than a year later.

In an attempt to save it from liquidation, Mr Ahmad and fellow co-founders took the brand out of administration and relaunched it with five stores.

Over the next year 150 staff were rehired and a marketing agreement was signed with DFS.

DFS then bought out the rest of Dwell’s brand and assets in an effort to reach “younger, more urban consumers who we haven’t traditionally targeted” although Dwell continues to be run as a standalone subsidiary.

According to latest available accounts, DFS group revenue was £870.5m, up 14.1% from the previous year.

Dwell and another DFS-owned company, Sofa Workshop, combined made up 7% of this figure.

The company’s profits before tax were down 48.5% at £25.8m.

In DFS’s annual report it said it expected Dwell to generate attractive financial returns in the 2019 financial year.