A new store in Inverness propelled Mountain Warehouse to a record Christmas, the outdoor goods retailer said yesterday.
Mountain Warehouse, whose other Scottish branches include outlets in Aviemore, Elgin, and Fort William, said total sales grew by 19% during the six weeks to January 4.
The year-on-year increase was driven by an 8.4% lift in like-for-like sales, which strips out the impact of new branches opening, and a 36.3% rise in online sales.
Mountain Warehouse, which was launched by chief executive Mark Neale 17 years ago, said the record total sales also benefited from strong demand for mail order and click-and-collect services, while Black Friday and Cyber Monday drove the firm to its busiest four-day trading period to date.
The retailer said it sold more than 1.2million outdoor clothing items, ncluding 70,000 ski jackets, 20,000 fleeces and 130,000 thermals, over the whole six weeks.
Mr Neale, who led an £85million management buyout of the business in October 2013, said: “Our outstanding Christmas performance caps another excellent year.
“I’m hugely pleased with continuing strong performance across all our channels; in our UK stores, online and internationally.
“We opened our 200th store in Inverness shortly before Christmas and believe there is still plenty of life in the high street.
“The online business also continues to surpass all expectations, with products being shipped to more than 100 countries.
“We now have 10 stores in Poland and will open our first store in Germany in the next few months. Now that winter has finally arrived, we look forward to continuing success in 2015.”