Peterborough's fashion giant Yours Clothing battles for new shop lease deals as it backs the high street

Peterborough fashion chain Yours Clothing is fighting to secure vital changes to the leases on its high street shops in a bid to cope with changing nature of shopping.

The retailer, based in Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, has been involved in negotiations with landlords to secure new agreements that base the rent on the individual store’s performance and also lock in the option to bring lease agreements to a quick end.

The company says this action is creating a more streamlined business that allows it to retain a high street presence.

It warns that this might not have been viable if the retailer was subject to potentially onerous long term lease commitments.

Shop rents that bear no relation to sales and lengthy lease commitments been blamed for adding to the woes of many retailers over the last few years as more shoppers move to online buying.

Yours Clothing’s action is revealed in the company’s annual report and financial statement for the 52 weeks to January 30 last year, which show that in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, the retailer saw group sales grow by 72 per cent to £174,225,776 from £101,162,629 the previous year while its gross margin percentage rose by 5.8 per cent to 62.3 per cent.

Directors Andrew Killingsworth, who founded the business, and David Preece say the company is well positioned to work around any friction caused by Brexit to the delivery of sales and also continues to monitor the impact and requirements of Covid-19.

Looking ahead, they have reiterated their commitment to profitable trading on the high street and to support this, say the company has developed the ability to send out online orders from its shops.

The two directors say they are also monitoring a new challenge – record levels of inflation – but are confident their products, sold under four brands, Yours Clothing, BadRhino, Long Tall Sally and Pixie Girl, are competitively priced and that they are committed to providing value for money.

They add: “Despite the difficulties of the last financial period we look forward with optimism about the future of the business.”