Atria Watford unaware of plans to bring Ted Baker to town

Ted Baker’s CEO Rachel Osborne revealed earlier this month that a recovery plan to help with revenue included bringing temporary stores in satellite locations around big cities – specifically including areas such as Watford and Reading.

Temporary stores could help attract people who are continuing to avoid travelling into major cities during the last stages of Covid restrictions, and they would be closed if shopping habits reverted back to pre-pandemic pattern.

It comes after the fashion retailer revealed that sales fell 44 per cent during its past financial year, considering that the brand thrives of trendy formal wear and the majority of the UK mainly dressed casually over the lockdowns.

Following the announcement, the Watford Observer has been looking to see how far plans for temporary stores have progressed, and if a location has been set for a potential Watford store.

While Ted Baker has yet to issue official information about the location, a spokesperson from Atria Watford says that the centre “isn’t aware of this at present and have not been informed”.

Presumably, a Ted Baker store would thrive and would be well suited in the town centre and near the shopping centre.

Considering that Atria Watford has not been approached about plans for a temporary store in the shopping centre, it leaves the question to where Ted Baker could be located.

In a statement discussing the financial situation at Ted Baker, the chief executive said: “While the impact of Covid-19 is clear in our results and has amplified some of the legacy issues impacting the business, Ted Baker has responded proactively and is in a much stronger place than it was a year ago.

“During the period, we delivered robust cashflow generation, fixed our balance sheet, refreshed our senior leadership team and today we are upgrading our financial targets for the second time since outlining our new strategy last summer.”

Ted Baker has been approached for comment.