Beauty chain Thérapie is plotting a £50m blitz on Britain's 'struggling' retail market
The Irish beauty chain is also expanding further into India.
BEAUTY TREATMENT FIRM Thérapie Clinic has announced a massive buildout on Brexit-embattled Britain’s “struggling” high street – as well as a major expansion in India this year.
The Irish chain specialises in aesthetic treatments such as Botox, facial fillers, laser hair removal and so-called ‘fat freezing’. It currently owns 31 outlets, 14 of which are located across the UK.
Run by siblings Philip and Katie McGlade, Thérapie was established in 2001 by their father, Paul, who co-founded Champion Sports and Optilase eye surgery. The company claims to have some 250,000 clients.
Over the next three years, Thérapie is planning to inject a £50 million investment into the UK, where it plans to open 100 new clinics and add some 1,500 staff to its payroll. It currently employs about 500 people.
“We’re expanding quite aggressively … we plan to expand everywhere,” CEO Philip McGlade told Fora.
As Brexit looms, he said Thérapie is keen to take advantage of cheaper rents in the UK, where the high street has experienced several high-profile collapses and cutbacks.
“The uncertainty of the current market with retail struggling is a good time to expand, we feel. We just want to take advantage of the current market situation. We believe that the UK will rebound again, so we just want to capitalise on the moment,” McGlade said.
“Retail in general in the UK is struggling, rents are coming down, so it’s a good opportunity to open up in the current market … Our price point is accessible for the mass market, so we have the right model in the current climate.
“Obviously there’s a lot of uncertainty in the UK, but we feel on a long-term basis that the UK will recover. I think it will be affected in the short-term, but from a long-term perspective the UK will rebound.”
The company recently opened four new clinics in London, including a flagship 4,000 sq ft premises, which it reports is the largest aesthetic clinic in the city.
Further afield
As well as its expansion in the UK, Thérapie plans to open 10 new outlets in India this year with more in the pipeline for 2020. The company opened its first and only location in India two years ago.
It is also planning 10 Irish clinics this year too and hopes to launch in the US within the next three years, where it has already started conducting market research and is “engaged with people” there, McGlade said.
The most recent set of accounts for holding company Fellerim Ltd show that it recorded sales of over €20.5 million, an increase of 22% on the previous year’s tally.
It also reported a profit of more than €1.3 million compared to 2016′s €98,404 loss.
