DISCOUNT clothing brand Pep & Co has opened its first store in Northern Ireland - and promised customers there'll be more to come.
It made its first foray in the north with the launch of a concession in the Poundland store in Coleraine.
And mid-May Pep & Co expects Derry, Antrim and Strabane to be also home to its brand.
Established at the beginning of July 2015, Pep & Co hit the ground running in Britain, opening 50 standalone stores in as many days.
In the 18 months that have followed, dozens more were added to their portfolio.
Six months ago, the brand's parent company Pepkor acquired the discount retail chain Poundland and set about installing a "shop within a shop" with the Pep & Co range across several UK Poundland stores.
The brainchild of Adrian Mountford, who was behind the clothing ranges for the likes of Sainsbury’s, Pep & Co’s premise is simple: good quality, discount clothing.
Pepkor, which own thousands of retail brands across the world, has allowed Pep & Co to keep its margins low through its ability to buy in large quantities from suppliers across the globe, giving the end customer the best price possible.
Ranging anywhere from £1 to £20, Pep & Co offer clothing for men, women and children.
On a tour around the Coleraine store, Adrian accompanied The Irish News through the rails as dozens of buyers filtered between the new clothes and Poundland’s discount essentials, toys and snacks.
Sizing up the customers and tweaking the layout of the shirts, trousers and dresses, Adrian explained the ethos behind the business.
"Our customer is a mum with kids, children’s wear is important to us," he said.
"The low price does put pressure on the margins, but the scale we’ve got within the group means we can offer our customer a great quality garment, which for me means something that looks good for a long time."
Going through the rapid time-line and growth the brand has seen, Adrian was as taken aback by the figures as anyone.
"If someone were to tell me where we’d be now back when we started, I would say they were bonkers," he said.
"I thought I was bonkers for opening 50 stores in 50 days. I wish I could say it was all planned, but a lot of it just fell into place."
Before leaving the hustle and bustle of the bargain-hunters in Coleraine, and asked what he thought of expanding into Northern Ireland, Adrian said: "It’s gone off like a rocket, so early signs are good. I’ve got a real feeling we’ll do great here."
