THIS WEEK: Storehouse bid tipped for ailing Boots spin-off

Storehouse is in talks to buy ailing Boots subsidiary Children’s World.

The plan is to merge the 52 Children’s World outlets with Storehouse’s

Mothercare chain. Talks have been taking place since before Christmas,

but Storehouse and Boots refused to comment.

Retail analysts claim the deal makes ‘perfect sense’. ‘Storehouse has

said it wants to try Mothercare in larger formats and Children’s World

has been a disaster for Boots. The money Boots has ploughed in has

provided little return,’ said one.

Children’s World suffered a pounds 1.9m loss in the six months to

September and has been hit by competition from rivals such as Toys’R’Us,

Woolworths, Early Learning Centre and Mothercare.

Children’s World was set up in 1987 as an out-of-town concept offering a

one-stop children’s shop. Over the Christmas period the chain suffered

from intense competition in the toys market and like-for-like sales fell

1.3%.

Mothercare has delivered an impressive turnaround over the past year,

with profits more than doubling to pounds 9.3m in the six months to

October.

The group is spending heavily to improve its fashion lines to compete

against relative newcomers Gap and Next.

This article was first published on Marketing