Arcadia, which owns some of the best known high street fashion retailers, is planning to open convenience food outlets within some of its stores.
Sir Philip Green (centre)
Arcadia is the owner of stores such as Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Topshop, Topman and Wallis, but it is its BHS stores where the food outlets are planned to begin.
Sir Philip Green, Arcadia’s owner is still to decide whether to take the plunge and start offering food in his stores, but a decision is planned for later this year.
He said: “Every one of the major supermarkets seems to think it (convenience stores) is the way to go. Our customers have said they’d like to buy food. We might have a shot at it.”
But BHS has sold food in the past, prior Sir Philip buying the chain in 2000. Already 150 of the 183 BHS stores have planning consent to start selling food which could rival the likes of Marks & Spencer.
But are convenience food outlets the right way for a fashion retailer to go? With the likes of mini Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons stores popping up all over the place, do we really need more food outlets?
