Blue Inc commits to Woolwich after riots

Blue Inc, the fashion retailer whose chairman is the former boss of Marks & Spencer, has committed to doubling its store presence in one of the areas of London worst affected by the riots a year ago.

The menswear chain will reopen its Woolwich High Street store, which was burned down during last August's disturbances, under its sister Officers Club banner next year once it has been rebuilt. Following the riots, the 200-store group, whose chairman is Sir Stuart Rose, also opened a Blue Inc shop just 10 doors away from the destroyed one last October.

Steven Cohen, the chief executive of Blue Inc, formerly the Mr Byrite chain, said: “We took the view that Woolwich is an important High Street for us. We do intend to reopen the old [burned down] store. There is a strong demand for urban menswear and we trade very well in these type of locations.”

The fast-growing retailer - whose investors include Sir Stuart and the billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben – suffered damage and looting at 14 stores inside the M25 in the riots. Following this, staff worked tirelessly to reopen all of Blue Inc’s shops, including in Peckham, Elephant & Castle and Lewisham, inside 72 hours, although the Woolwich store is being rebuilt from the ground up.

Cohen said: “Clearly, it looked like the police lost control on the two critical nights [of the riots]. And I hope very much that lessons have been learned from those events.”

Blue Inc is on track to post profits of £5.5 million this year, on sales of £80 million. It acquired 46 Officers Club shops out of administration in March 2011 and followed this by buying 20 stores from the collapsed jeans retailer D2 in January.

Cohen said about 90% of the 2,000-plus jobs that Blue Inc has created over the past six years were for those aged under 29. He added: “We are removing a lot of youth unemployment.” Cohen led the acquisition of the former Mr Byrite business in 2006 via the holding company he founded, Marlow Retail.