Clothing retailer Joules will approach a phased reopening of its stores “cautiously” in the coming weeks, as chief executive Nick Jones said he expects “very challenging trading conditions” to continue.
In a stock market update, the company said it reopened 12 of its 128 stores this week as some of the UK’s lockdown restrictions lifted.
“While it is too early to accurately forecast how quickly and to what extent store footfall and sales will recover, the board believes that the group’s flexible and agile… model puts Joules in a strong position to adapt to the way customers choose to interact with the brand going forward,” the company said.
Joules said more than a third of its store portfolio had a lease event in the coming 18 months, and Jones said the business was “well positioned to continue to react to changing consumer behaviours”.
During lockdown, Joules saw e-commerce demand “significantly ahead of expectations and… more than 40% higher than the comparable period last year”. The company will boost its warehouse capacity in the coming months to support that part of the business.
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