Seasalt to open stores as sales lift

SEASALT is planning to open new stores after a surge in sales of colourful blouses and waterproof jackets helped profits almost triple to £6.5 million.

Turnover rose by more than a third at the Cornwall-inspired retailer to £96 million in the year to January 2022, according to its latest accounts filed on Companies House. This was boosted by the reopening of stores following Covid lockdowns, which dented earnings the year before. Online sales almost doubled since before the pandemic.

But Seasalt, which has more than 1,000 employees, also reported that its shops were already having their best ever year.

Chief executive Paul Hayes said this was partly down to the company’s focus on customer service. Seasalt was set up in 1981 by the Chadwick family, who claim they popped into a small shop in Penzance to buy waterproof jackets on a rainy August day but ended up buying the shop. It is majority owned by brothers Leigh, David and Neil Chadwick.

The group has 70 stores in the UK and Ireland, and began selling clothes through Marks & Spencer in 2021. It said sales through M&S had ‘greatly exceeded expectations’.