High street stalwart WH Smith has signalled an end of an era by saying it doesn’t plan to open any more shops in the UK’s towns and cities. Instead chief executive Carl Cowling told the BBC that the historic chain would be concentrating on airports and train station.
The books, stationary and cards retailer said it was also aiming to open new shops in the USA and Europe. Mr Cowling said: “We’ve got a very healthy High Street business in the UK. But we’ve got no ambitions to grow that.
“When you look at the main cities across England, Wales and Scotland, we are present in those cities.” WH Smith insists that it will continue to invest in its stores, with Mr Cowling pointing to a retail partnership with Toys R Us in nine UK High Street shops.
Mr Cowling told the BBC World Service Marketplace Morning Report that WH Smith’s biggest growth market is the US. It has captured about 12% of the retail market in US airports, he added. “Our ambition is to get to 20% over the course of the next four years and then that will mean probably only the best parts of 150 stores.
“So in the first half of this year, we opened 30 shops in North America and opened another 30 shops in the second half of this year. We’ve got a pipeline of 60 stores to open and we’re constantly winning tenders in airports.”
Last year, WH Smith partnered with Amazon to open a walk-out technology store in LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The company is expanding further in Europe, after opening five new stores at Brussels Airport and another five at Oslo airports, where it is selling hot dogs.
“We’re selling hot food in WH Smith stores so that’s very interesting,” he said. In 2022, WH Smith reported £63m in profit-before-tax.
Earlier this month WH Smith was among firms who have been “named and shamed” by the Government for breaking the minimum wage law. WH Smith was the worst offender, according to HMRC, with the new figures claiming it failed to pay around £1 million to 17,607 workers.
The retailer blamed this on an error related to its company uniform policy. A spokesman for WH Smith said: “Following a review with HMRC in 2019, and in common with a number of retailers, it was brought to our attention that we had misinterpreted how the statutory wage regulations were applied to our uniform policy for staff working in our stores.
“This was a genuine error and it was rectified immediately with all colleagues reimbursed in 2019.”
