// B&Q could open at least 50 more smaller UK stores
// The DIY retailer has backed its Local format as it reports 40% slide in pre-tax profits to £611m
B&Q has plans to open at least 50 small and medium-sized stores across the UK following increased demand for more convenient local stores.
The DIY retailer said it had eight high street outlets – called B&Q Local – in London and was perfecting the format.
It is considering how it could better sell kitchens and bathrooms there, before considering how many in total it could open across the UK.
However, Kingfisher boss Thierry Garnier said the group had identified 50 locations where it could open Locals or one of its medium-sized 4,000-5,000 sq metre sites – compared with 12,000sq metres for its traditional big boxes and 300-800 sq metres for the new high street stores.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
Garnier said B&Q had tested three small store formats – high street, retail parks and in Asda stores – and it had closed the supermarket outlets to focus on the other two options.
Kingfisher recently reported a 40% slide in pre-tax profits to £611m as sales slipped 1% to £13bn in the year to 31 January as the pandemic lockdown boom in DIY unwound.
Sales fell 7% year on year at the group’s B&Q and Screwfix chains in the UK and Ireland and 1.4% at its Castorama chain in France but grew strongly in Poland, Romania, Portugal and Spain.
Garnier warned that profits were likely to be down again in the year ahead. He said there was “relative uncertainty in consumer demand”, rising costs on energy and labour as well as investment in expansion.
He said inflation was likely to ease from the middle of the year, with prices on goods made in Asia dropping and freight costs well down year on year, but he said it would take time for this to feed through to shoppers.
