Global Retail Brands’ homewares and kitchen retailer House has expanded to the UK by launching its first shopfront at Westgate Oxford simultaneously with the HouseUK.com online store.

Two more stores will open in the next two weeks, situated at The Lexicon, Bracknell and the Meadowhall, Sheffield, with stores at Chapelfield, Norwich and Cribbs Causeway, Bristol to follow soon after.

“I am proud and delighted that we have successfully opened our first two stores on schedule,” said House executive chairman and CEO Steven Lew.

“We announced our plans for House to expand into the UK market last year, and we plan to continue our roll out swiftly.

“We are passionate about cooking, dining and entertaining, and our ambition is to be the ‘go-to’ destination for people who share our passion. Our expansion will be very much opportunity-led, and our strategy is to create a sustainable operation that prioritises being best-in-class, over being the biggest. Being the biggest is a flow on from having the best all-round offering.

“Physical stores are not dead. They are only dead if the retailer cannot adapt its model, and landlords and business partners are not willing to work together in their mutual best interests. The approach must be collaborative, holistic and realistic.”

House plans to open 75 physical UK stores and provide employment for up to 1,000 employees within three years with the assistance of UK based property consultants MMX Retail.

“It was great to get the first physical store opened today and watch the reaction from the customers, and also listen to their feedback,” said Nick Symons, partner at MMX Retail.

“We also had some of the UK’s leading landlords and their advisers in store today, and their response to House UK was tremendous. We are now looking to progress negotiations for another batch of store openings for later in the summer.”

Established in Australia in 1978, House offers up to 4,000 products in its stores, and up to 10,000 products online, including cookware, glassware, kitchen gadgets, small electrical appliances, knives and linens.

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