Insider Media Limited

Variety store chain Alworths, which has grown out of the ashes of Woolworths, is preparing to open up to 20 stores across the Midlands in the next five years. The company revealed its expansion plans to Insider as it prepared to open up a store in Newark.

Alworths already has stores in Evesham and Swadlincote. The Newark site will open by the end of the month, it said.

The growing chain now employs more than 230 people across the country, 68 of whom are former Woolworths employees. Many of the stores are also in ex-Woolworths premises, partly because the founder and managing director, ex-Woolworths head of stores and concessions development Andy Latham, was familiar with that company's premises.

“There's a sense of confidence when you're dealing with the complexities of leases on properties you know,” he told Insider.

Of the potential openings in the Midlands, Latham said: “There's a high proportion of towns that we would be interested in. There's plenty of opportunity in the region.

“Swadlincote is a good example where there are big towns around where people do their main shopping, but still wander round the high street in Swadlincote.”

He added that the chain aimed to open up 20 stores in the region over the next five years.

Across the country,l the Surrey-based brand has ambitions to target 200 stores in the same timeframe.

But as the search for further premises continues, having picked off many of the profitable Woolworths sites, Latham is now looking at other options with the ideal premises being 3,000 to 5,000 sq ft shops in local high streets or market towns.

Many commentators questioned his judgment when Latham launched a retail chain during a recession. But he was fortunate, he said, in having “an insider's view of why Woolworths failed”.

“It didn't fail because it wasn't popular – it was more about the business model than the customer offer. What isn't commonly realised is that half of the stores made money. The problem with the others was central costs. Part of the failing was being in locations that couldn't make money because of the rents, which made it difficult to fund new and relevant products.

“I took the view that I knew what worked and what didn't at Woolworths - and I would make sure that I did what worked and that I ran a million miles from what didn't.”

Landlords, chambers and councils have been supportive, he says, and sees the chain as “breathing new life into their high streets” - landlords have agreed to good deals on rents and suppliers have also been co-operative, seeing Alworths as a way to replace some of the business lost with the demise of Woolworths.

Alworths has predictably been dubbed the “son of Woolworths” - it has a similar product mix of toys, games, DVDs, pic ‘n’ mix, seasonal lines, stationery, cards, party accessories, gift wrap, home and garden products, haberdashery and household convenience purchases.

But Latham says the two businesses have key differences. “We're not Woolworths reborn: we're picking the best bits, the categories that we believe there's still a market for, and we're adding new categories and enlarging others.”