Planet Organic says it is scaling back the ambitious store expansion programme it announced last summer – which aimed to boost its store portfolio to 50 by 2025 – and will focus in the shorter term on reaching 18 stores. This, says CEO George Dymond, will give Planet sufficient retail footprint to get it to stable profitability.
Planet Organic says it has appointed the specialist retail consultancy Interpath to assist with its effort to secure £30 million of fresh investment. It has also confirmed that it closed the Seedrs fund-raising round it launched in October (which had raised £7 million by December), in order accelerate its investment campaign, and would consider a sale of the business to achieve its ambitions.
The announcements were reported on by Sky News and The Grocer, who quoted “city sources” suggesting that Amazon, Waitrose and Next could all be in the frame as potential new owners.
The developments come as Planet Organic has opened its fourteenth store, in Teddington, south-west London. The new 2,809sq ft store is located at 60-62 Broad Street, and occupies the former Johnson’s Shoes store, which opened in 1952 and remained in the family until its closure in 2021.
The Teddington store is set to feature over 3,500 products available across food and drinks to go, pantry, produce, health and wellness and beauty. Team members will includefour qualified nutritionists and one qualified nurse.
Aliz Tentea, new stores opening manager at Planet Organic said “We’re hugely excited to be bringing Planet Organic to Teddington. The response from the community so far has been amazing. Our Brand Ambassador has been standing outside the front of the shop, introducing Planet Organic to the community and the response has been overwhelming with queues along the street!
“We identified Teddington as a fantastic fit for Planet and we can’t wait to welcome customers into store, introduce them to our fantastic range of products and our expert colleagues, helping the people of Teddington to discover better on everything from fresh, organic food to the most innovative and exciting products in health & wellness.”