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Moss is readying a store in Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre in May, as it continues to refurb and resize sites in its portfolio, CEO Brian Brick told Drapers.
The menswear business, which was established in 1851, rebranded as “Moss” in late 2023 and is on a drive to update stores located in large footfall areas. The Moss store at Birmingham New Street will remain open.
Moss's store at 299 Oxford Street closed last week for a 12-week refurbishment and will reopen before Easter. The business will sell across three storeys at the site after adding an additional floor of selling space. Its store at 34 Oxford Street remains open.
Signage across half of its 131-store portfolio will be updated with the modernised moniker by the end of this year, said Brick.
He added that the business will complete two to three additional resites this year in major cities.
The business opened in Edinburgh last year, Brick says there is “more potential” in Scotland.
A host of retailers, including Next, are increasing prices as a result of the Budget adding to costs across National Insurance contributions, the National Living Wage and a cut to business rates relief. Brick says the business will “tweak” some of its prices and will be able to cover “a big chunk” of its increasing costs by doing so.
Brick calls business rates an “unequal, unfair tax”, adding that the government should “encourage” business: “Business isn’t a bank for the government, they need to encourage business to grow, employ more people.”
The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme will be reduced from 75% to 40% from April 2025. Three tiers of multipliers will be introduced for the sectors, which will be set at this year’s autumn Budget with the highest targeted at businesses with property of a rateable value of £500,000 and over.
Drapers spoke to Brick at the launch of the brand’s spring/summer 25 campaign, at its new head office in Camden, north west London, which the business moved into in October, from Clapham, south west London.
Brick said the men’s outfitter “played” at casualwear before the pandemic, but now has a sharper focus on the category, evident in lightweight summer knit T-shirts, cardigans and drawstring smart joggers.
“We’re not into denim,” explained Brick, “It’s the smarter element of casual.”
He explained that the pandemic allowed the business to “streamline” and undergo a “reset”. Moss was taken private in 2020 when it was bought for £22.6m in cash by a group of private investors led by Menoshi Shina, the US-based owner of Crew Clothing. Brian Brick has been CEO since 2009.
English (US) ·