Nashville-based retailer Genesco reported a 25 percent increase in sales in the first quarter. The company moved 600 million dollars worth of shoes and hats at its stores in the first three months of this year, compared to about 480 million in the same period a year ago. Part of Genesco’s growth is thanks to a British retail chain it purchased in 2011.
Schuh sells hip, fashionable footwear, much like Genesco’s Journeys stores in the US. So far, company officials say their purchase of Schuh is working out better than expected. The chain rang up 70 million dollars in sales in the first quarter. That’s despite the British economy’s backslide into recession.
Genesco CEO Bob Dennis says the downturn will lead to lower property prices in the UK, and that will make it easier for Schuh to grow.
“We have accelerated our expansion plans to take advantage of the real estate opportunities that have surfaced as a result of the economic slowdown. The plan is now to open 16 stores in the UK, doubling the plan we had at the start of the year.”
Those new locations will add to the 80 or so Schuh stores in the UK and Ireland.
While business is good for Genesco in Britain, the same isn’t true for the rest of that country’s consumer economy. Today, the Bank of England released figures showing that April retail sales declined at their fastest rate in two years.
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