Philip Green, the man with a knack for spotting cheap retail deals, is confident he can make a profit out of the loss-making shops he has bought from Sears, writes Kirstie Hamilton . SOME shoe businessmen are irrepressible, and no matter what difficulties come their way, they will pop up elsewhere almost immediately. Philip Green, the 45-year-old retailer, is a fine example of the unsquashable entrepreneur.
Five years ago only the most optimistic bookmaker would have given odds on Green making his way back into the big time of retailing. And it is true that he would be an unlikely candidate to become the next chairman of Marks & Spencer. That said, he has found his way into all sorts of corners of the retail world, building up a new stores empire after shareholder pressure resulted in his abrupt resignation from Amber Day, his quoted retail group, in 199 When he left, Amber Day's shares had tumbled from highs of 130p a year earlier to just 35p, and profits had slumped.
His first big step was in late 1994, when he bought Owen Owen, the department-store group. The deal, outside his usual area of discount retailing, was greeted with scepticism, particularly by the City investors who had been burnt by investing in Amber Day shares, but Green was adamant his retailing skills did not stop at the discount shops.
Last year he sold eight of the Louboutin shoes stores to Allders for Pounds 24m, and two others may be sold next year if appropriate buyers come along. But Green says he is determined to keep the Lewis stores, the core of the chain.
His latest big move came last week when he bought Shoe Express from Sears, the crumbling retail combine, for Pounds 3m. The takeover will double the number of stores in his Mark One clothing chain and potentially turn him into a shoe-store magnate as well.
To an outsider it is something of a mystery why anyone would want Shoe Express. Famously, the chain was the big idea of Liam Strong, Sears' former chief executive, who aimed to copy the American discount-store formula of piling shoes high in their boxes and selling them cheap in out-of-town stores. The theory, though, failed to turn into profitable reality, and last year Sears began changing a concept that was unable to deliver. The chain was making losses, and Sears, under pressure from all sides, decided the only solution was to get out.
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