By Aimee Chanthadavong
Howards Storage World has announced it will be opening five more stores overseas by April 2011.
Three new retail stores will open in Europe with two stores also scheduled to open in Asia.
Speaking to Retailbiz, CEO Dirk Spence said the store rollouts will be essential additions the company’s current store network.
“We’ve obviously been an international brand for a while and this announcement is just an update of where we are currently at, with our main focus being in Europe. We’ve opened a few stores already in the UK and Spain with more scheduled to open.”
With hopes of forging more partnerships in 2011, Howard Storage World has Master Franchise agreements in place in nine international regions including Scandinavia, Benelux, Ireland, the UK, Spain, the Middle East, Singapore, India and the Philippines.
“Each Master Franchise has their own warehouse for goods distributions to their stores and are responsible for growing the brand in their market. But for any first store opening in a new country, the Australian global head office always provides assistance and going forward we offer global support to the group,” Spence said.
He also noted there are many opportunities overseas because there is no such other retail concept that is offered in other markets.
“We’ve identified a niche market where we overlap with other retailers as all retailers always do, but unlike the other stores we’re a one stop shop for all your storage needs and services, which is what speciality retailing is about.”