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29 March 2024

At Browns, expansion is in fashion

Simon Burstein at the Browns pop-up in Ounass (OSAMA ABUGHANIM)

Published
By Keith J Fernandez

Forty years after it first opened its doors, iconic London retail emporium Browns mulls an international growth plan that could feature the UAE, CEO Simon Burstein revealed to Emirates Business.

For the multi-brand destination store on South Molton Street, which is known for discovering young designers (it put graduate collections from John Galliano and Hussein Chalayan in its famous long windows), expanding out of its home in the British capital could be one way of ensuring the family firm's survival and growth.

"Can Browns internationalise itself as a retail luxury emporium? That's my dream. There's lots of opportunities for our brand, who knows, there could be a Browns in Dubai," said Burstein, who worked at Browns in the seventies, when he created a men's department. In 1982, he left to help Sonia Rykiel (he later married her daughter Nathalie) in developing her brand internationally, experience he brought back to Browns in 2008 when he returned to run the business his parents founded.

"They told me, don't wreck the company," he jokes, a reference to how family firms often flounder when a new generation takes over.

"My parents have built a wonderful business – I mean, we're debt-free. [The task is now] to enable the company to go further, I hope. Will it be in the form of an internationalisation? Why not I say, with the right opportunity and partner," he said, adding that any new ventures would have to be with local partners to benefit from their market knowledge.

Browns currently runs six stores in London.

In an era of cookie-cutter single-brand stores, Burstein believes Browns' reputation for astute multi-brand merchandising will bring in customers – even in such crowded markets as the UAE, which is already home to Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's and Harvey Nichols.

"Let's face it. You could say that Dubai doesn't need another shop – unless the shop can bring something that's unique or fairly unique. Unlike at a Harvey Nichols or Bloomingdale's, no brand has a defined area at Browns; we move things around constantly because that's how customers respond. We have a pretty good merchandising mix that allows people to pick up different brands that can complementary – that's our USP, our uniqueness," he explained, in hushed, suitably reverential tones.

"As is finding young designers. People shop at Browns and go, 'If it's sold in Browns, must be pretty good, maybe we should buy it for our shop?' So why not capitalise on our expertise? But that's easier said than done."

While he says no concrete decisions have been taken, but recent pop-up stores in Berlin, Zurich and Dubai to mark the brand's 40th anniversary have proved a hit with fans. In Dubai, where a mini version of Browns popped up as part of a "future collectibles" range at Ounass in Emirates Towers last month, much of the collection sold out. "The customer reaction has been extremely positive, with customers travelling from across the region, such as Kuwait and Lebanon, to ensure that they are able to add one of these limited edition pieces to their wardrobes," said Shireen El Khatib, CEO of Al Tayer Insignia, the Al Tayer Group's luxury fashion arm.

"It's a great way to get the name out of South Molton Street. Browns is a destination store and we have customers from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but a lot of people don't know it," Burstein pointed out, adding that sales from the promotion were likely to represent 20 per cent of monthly revenue. "I do expect to have additional sales, make money, but the exercise is clearly to talk about Browns, to get people excited so when they're in London, they'll pay us a visit."

Browns already wholesales some of the designer lines it develops as part of its fashion-forward Focus range to bigger stores such as Bloomingdale's and Burstein wants to expand that part of the business. Another area he's hoping to grow is internet retail, which accounts for 20 per cent of total business and has helped Browns hold its own against the designers' monomarque boutiques.

"Our financial year ends in July and this last year, we've been saved by our web business, which we've built over the past eight years. While we were down in sales perhaps 10 per cent in brick and mortar, our web business was 40 per cent up," he said.

A new web retail platform, then, will be rolled out in September. "We want to make it as easy as possible for the customer to buy."

Turnover at the privately held company was £14 million (Dh76m) in 2008-2009, seven per cent over the previous year, Burstein said. For the current semester, he said, the company is about three per cent down globally, but nevertheless, helped in part by the anniversary celebrations, he said he hoped to finish the year on a high. "This [financial] year, we've felt full brunt of recession. But my job is to safeguard everybody's job, we have 100 employees and not cut back on any services, and really making sure we move ahead."