Record annual revenues and a return to profit aren’t just good news for UK outdoor clothing retailer Mountain Warehouse but “reflect customers flocking back to the high street post-pandemic”.

That’s the view of the retailer’s founder and CEO Mark Neale, who has overseen sales of £386 million for the 52 weeks to end-February, up 4% year-on-year, “the highest in [our] 27-year history”.

The group, which employs more than 3,700 people, also made pre-tax profits of £26.2m compared to a pre-tax loss of £1.5m in the prior year when it was hit by incremental costs caused by Covid-19.

Store revenue grew 7.1%, helped by 28 new or relocated locations. The new units included 21 in the UK as well as three in New Zealand, two in Canada and two in Poland.

“Whilst our online business had a big boost during the pandemic, we kept investing in stores and their success shows customers relish choice and the opportunity to shop how and when they want,” added Neale.

The group’s success also signals a ramping up of new store openings and relocations, with up to 50 additional units and relocations for FY25. It’s already opened 20 since the year-end, including Plymouth, Putney in south London, and Llanelli in Wales.

And it’s more than doubled the size of its store in London’s tourist hotspot Covent Garden, and relocated its store in Truro, Cornwall, to a bigger unit.

In the UK, the recent strategy has been to open much larger stores, including some in popular retail parks including Bedford Retail Park, Maybird Retail Park in Stratford-upon-Avon, Malvern Shopping Park and Tunbridge Wells Shopping Park. 

The larger outlets, some of which are in former Topshop and Wilko spaces, give the retailer room to stock a much wider product range. They can also include sections devoted to skiwear and showcase its Animal lifestyle brand, acquired three years ago. 

The group has opened standalone Animal stores in beach towns Padstow, Falmouth and Bude in Cornwall — with a further Cornish branch opening in St Ives, Abersoch in North Wales and Cromer in Norfolk.

Overseas, the group’s opened three more stores in New Zealand, adding to the 24 stores already there, three more in Canada ,as well as its first stores in Australia, starting in Brisbane. The group has already secured more sites in Melbourne, which will open before the end of October.
 
Neale said the expansion activity “has helped us weather-proof the business… something we’ve paid a lot of attention to in recent years so that we have a strong business all year around. Acquiring Animal has also helped us reach many new customers. The brand is well-loved and we’re reinvigorating it for a new generation.”
 
The summer season has also been good for the retailer, selling record numbers of wetsuits, swimwear and changing robes, as well as summer dresses, T-shirts, flip flops and shorts”, Neale said. 
 
And the group’s continued to diversify by launching Mountain Warehouse Marketplace where third-party sellers can list their products on its website. Launched in 2022, it now has more than 320 brands.
 
“Despite the big increase in customers returning to stores the group’s online business grew 2.2% to account for almost a third of revenue, up from just under a quarter prior to the pandemic,” added Neale.