A SOUTH Lakeland retail business is poised for a major expansion programme which will lead to a chain of outlets across the North West.

Lifestyle clothing shop Rush has reopened its doors in Bowness after a big refurbishment project which has seen the store double in size.

Bosses say the new-look store is the first of 15 similar shops planned for the next few years, after the business secured venture capital to help fund the growth. Lancaster is the next location in the pipeline, followed by Bolton.

Dave Owen founded the business, originally named Mountain Trading Ltd, five years ago, but needed investors to enable the firm to expand.

Lakes businessman Ian Gordon came on board, buying a stake in the business and becoming managing director while Mr Owen became operations director.

Mr Gordon is no stranger to the South Lakes business scene, having transformed the fortunes of Wray Castle from a struggling marine college to a tele-communications training company before selling out five years ago.

He has since been working as a tutor on an MBA programme in business planning at the entrepreneurship unit of Lancaster University's School of Business Management.

Mr Gordon also went into partnership with a local builder to form Hawkshead Developments, the firm behind the conversion of the village's former police station into flats.

The firm, which employs 30 staff and has since relocated to St Helens, buys older properties and turns them into apartments or flats.

Mr Gordon, who is non-executive chairman, said the business turned over £2 million last year and expects the figure to grow to £3 million next year.

He has applied the same thinking to both business ventures as he did to running Wray Castle, despite their diverse nature. "The problems are exactly the same issues such as human resources, cash, customers and competences," he told Business Gazette.

A survey of customers at the Bowness shop revealed 60 per cent were tourists, who liked the clothing brands like Quiksilver, White Stuff and Mambo, which they could not find in the region's smaller cities.

The findings prompted the expansion plans and the firm has spent six months putting together a team of buyers, visual merchandisers and operations managers.

John Bardon-Bailey, former operations director for Edinburgh Woollen Mill, joined as a non-executive director, bringing his retail experience from a national chain of 250 shops.

A number of Lake District private investors have taken a 30 per cent stake in the business, freeing up cash for further growth.

As an acknowledged expert on business planning, Mr Gordon appears to be relishing the prospect of running a firm poised for growth.

"I like being involved at the beginning of a business," said the former district councillor.

April 10, 2003 10:00