Mountain Warehouse shops around for more NZ stores
Outdoor clothing retailer Mountain Warehouse is on the hunt for locations to open another 10 retail stores in New Zealand as part of its aggressive global expansion plans.
The London-based retail chain that operates 366 stores worldwide, including 24 in New Zealand, 260 in Britain and 40 in Canada, is rapidly growing its retail footprint. Its third largest market, New Zealand has grown to become a lucrative one for Mountain Warehouse, making $40 million worth of sales in the last financial year, following its market debut in 2018.
Mountain Warehouse opened its first New Zealand store in Queenstown, and had three operational by 2019 prior to the Covid-19 pandemic taking hold. It opened several more during the pandemic, and continues to grow its store numbers.
Last weekend it opened a store in Rotorua – one of four stores it opened globally that week, and last month opened a store in Nelson.
Mountain Warehouse founder and chief executive Mark Neale said the retailer was in expansion mode across New Zealand, and he believed the market had scope for the chain to open at least 10 more stores.
It planned to open three to four stores here per year over the next three years.
The retailer, which sees itself as a more affordable competitor to the likes of Kathmandu and Macpac, will open another Auckland store inside Auckland Airport’s new retail outlet shopping centre due to open at the end of the year.
It has its sights set on stores in Taupō, Whangārei, Ashburton, Timaru and Invercargill. “We’re really happy with how we’re doing in New Zealand,” said Neale, the company’s largest shareholder.
He said Queenstown was the most logical place for an outdoor equipment brand that sold jackets, ski gear and workout wear to start for a market launch – a move that Neale said Mountain Warehouse was happy it made.
The launch in New Zealand proved challenging initially as the market was “counter-seasonal” to the rest of its business, Neale said.
Almost one million New Zealanders shopped at Mountain Warehouse last year.
“I came out to New Zealand on a scouting trip in 2017 and I got a positive feeling about the New Zealand market and Kiwi customer. Our businesses in the UK and Canada were very successful and New Zealand felt pretty similar in many ways.
“I loved Queenstown and I thought, if you’re an international outdoor brand then you’ve got to have a store in Queenstown, so we decided to start there, even though it was slightly further away, and to be honest we’re really pleased we did,” recalled Neale.
“We’re invested in the market and pleased by our growing community of customers.”
Mountain Warehouse was founded by Neale 27 years ago in 1997 with one shop in Swindon, England, and has gradually grown its store numbers since then. In 2010 it expanded internationally, opening stores in Poland, and ventured into Canada in 2012. It operates 12 stores in Poland and a handful across Germany, Austria and Ireland.
In 2018, UK-based private equity firm Inflexion took a 20% stake in Mountain Warehouse for £45m (NZ$94m), which was helping to fund its retail expansion.
In the beginning it was a multi-brand store selling other brands’ products, but it transitioned away from that and now only sells its own brand.
Last year Mountain Warehouse made record sales of £380m (NZ$797m), and opened 40 new stores. It is embarking on expansion across all of its major markets, and in July will expand into Australia. It has plans to open an initial three stores in Melbourne and one in Brisbane.
Mountain Warehouse employs approximately 250 staff in New Zealand across its retail stores and Christchurch distribution centre.