Shoe Zone, the discount footwear chain, is back in profit as lockdown store closures begin to look like a distant memory.
The Leicestershire-based brand said sales for the half year to early April were up 73 per cent on the same period a year earlier, at almost £70 million. Digital revenues, the business said, now account for around one in every six sales.
Interim results for the period showed pre-tax profits of £3.1 million for the period, compared to losses of £2.6 million a year before.
A year earlier stores had been open for just 10 of the 26 week period, showing how the economy had opened up after two tough years of trading.
Chief executive Anthony Smith told shareholders: “We are able to report continuous trade for a full 26 week period.
“The last full year saw the business return quickly to profitability and became debt free again.
“Trading in the period has continued to be positive as we build on the strategy announced in October last year and we believe we are in a strong position.
“The rapid recovery of our business is due mainly to the continued support of our loyal and committed staff.
“We ended the period trading out of 388 stores, having closed 30 ‘original' format stores, which is in line with the strategy announced last October, and opened eight stores in our new hybrid format.
“We have 308 'original', 45 'Big Box' and 35 'hybrid' stores and we are actively working to relocate and/or refit further stores in the second half of the year, with at least 20 stores currently in solicitors' hands.
“Our average lease length is 1.8 years (2021: 1.9 years), giving us the opportunity and flexibility to respond to changes in any retail location at short notice.
“Property supply continues to outstrip demand and we continue to take advantage of this and significantly improve our property portfolio over the medium term.”
He said the business was committed to investing 3 per cent of annual turnover into capital projects and part of the success of the growing digital operation was a “very efficient returns process which is complemented by our extensive network of stores”.
He said: “We have a returns rate of 10.9 per cent and the vast majority of these are returned to store, hence why our physical store network is critical to our future success.”
