Roger Saul's Kilver Court outlet village sees Christmas surge

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 18, 2017

Mulberry founder Roger Saul’s fashion outlet village in Shepton Mallet has had its most successful Christmas ever.
The high-end outlet centre, which opened in 2011, saw comparable sales rising 17% from December 11 to January 8 and much of the surge was due to local shoppers from Somerset, as well as visitors to the area.

The village includes stores for L K Bennett, Jack Wills, Joseph, Turnbull & Asser, Rapha, Whistles and Penelope Chilvers.

CEO Freddie Saul said: It’s great to see that we are bucking the national trend of online shopping and that people still enjoy the unique shopping experience they get at Kilver Court.”

During the Christmas period, the business pulled out all the stops to attract visitors and make the village feel like the place to go for Christmas shopping. Freddie Saul added: “We aim to constantly create unexpected experiences to bring visitors back time and time again – the best example of this was our Christmas Room in the Great House which has been likened by our customers to Liberty or Fortnum & Mason - a huge compliment.”

The Saul family has ambitious plans to expand Kilver Court and last year announced that it would add up to 40 new stores and radically expand the total space the village covers. The expansion plan comes after it reported a 30% rise in like-for-like sales over the 2015/16 financial year.