Repositioning of Focus

It is now a year since the ambitious Focus group bought both Great Mills and Wickes, thereby ratcheting its store numbers up past the 400 mark, having already swallowed the ailing Do It All group some time previously. Quite impressive growth for a company which was considered a minor regional player until just three years ago.
Focus Wickes Warehouse is the name of the new large-format store.
A year on, and the Do It All and Great Mills names have both disappeared or are on the point of doing so, while the company has just opened its first large-format warehouse store and is hinting at long-term expansion into Europe. “Over the next four to five years we want to become a European player. Scale is everything,” says strategy director Jim Lowe. He does not, however, envisage Focus joining the group of
UK retailers who intend to accept payment in euros when they become legal tender throughout the euro zone in January 2002. “I just don’t see the customer demand for that,” he says.
A new feature of the Glasgow outlet is the in-store café.
First large-format store in Scotland
Since competitor Homebase sold its warehouse stores, along with a number of development sites, when it too changed hands at the end of last year, Focus is now the only company challenging market leader B&Q in the warehouse sector. It was mid-September when the new large-format store was inaugurated in Glasgow, Scotland, as a “Wickes Focus Warehouse”. This is effectively a lightside Focus store combined with a heavyside Wickes store under the same roof. The store is 9 850 m² in size and stocks over 50 000 product lines. The 2 325 m² of external area is split equally between a garden centre and a covered building materials depot – a new departure for the company, since the Wickes stores, despite their popularity with trade customers, have never featured external sales areas. A dedicated trade entrance is a further feature designed to attract builders as customers.
Perhaps of more appeal to the DIY customer will be the in-store café. It will be interesting to see whether cafes remain part of the format in future openings, as in-store catering in the DIY sector does not have a great history, unlike in garden centres, where cafes are more or less de rigueur.
Commenting on the opening of the new store, chairman Bill Archer said, “This launch is an important strategic development for Focus, combining as it does the strengths of our Wickes and Focus formats. We believe that this original approach will…