Second time lucky for Butlers?

When Butlers left the UK market with only one store remaining it seemed like the German retailer’s venture into a new country had all but failed.

There are plenty of examples of overseas-based businesses dipping their toes into the UK only to discover retailing here is not as easy as it looks, and Butlers seemed like it was joining them.

So it came as a pleasant surprise to learn that it is now on the verge of reinventing itself over here and that before long, there might be eight stores in London bearing the multi-coloured fascia.

On the one hand you could argue that now is hardly the time to be joining a homewares market that has been ravaged by months of consumer cutbacks, but look beneath the surface and there is logic to the move.

Why did it pull out the first time? Partly, as the retailer says, the high price of property was stifling its aggressive expansion plans. Shrewd, then, of Butlers to bite the bullet and pull out when it did. Its departure came exactly at the point when things were starting to turn down over here and now, as predicted, occupational costs have fallen to a more palatable level.

But everyone in retail also knows that it’s unwise to take a store simply because there is a good property deal to be had. Butlers coming back is more than just a market-driven decision; it has learnt from its mistakes. Not only is the market more inviting, this time around it is picking stores in locations like the Brunswick Centre and Richmond, which seem better suited to the retailer than the original batch, which included Bluewater and Manchester Arndale.

Of course it is a gamble in this market, but you only have to look at Uniqlo to see that by learning from their mistakes retailers can be second time lucky.