Mountain Warehouse is a British outdoor retailer selling equipment for hiking, camping, skiing, cycling, running and fitness. Founded in 1997 by Mark Neale; Mountain Warehouse has grown from a single outlet store to over 330 stores in the UK, Europe, New Zealand and North America.
History
In 1997 Mountain Warehouse was founded as the retail partner of Karrimor International, the UK based outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer. Investment company 21 Invest were Karrimor's lead investor. 21 Invest sold Karrimor's core business to South African leisure group Cullinan Holdings in February 1999. The stores, that were initially branded Karrimor, were subsequently re-branded to Mountain Warehouse. Mountain Warehouse sold multi-branded outdoor clothing and equipment as well as its recently launched own brand of clothing. In August 2002 NBGI Private Equity acquired the business from 21 Invest and managing Director Mark Neale buying a majority stake in the company. CEO Neale reinvested most of his proceeds into the new acquisition. In the years that NBGI worked with Mountain Warehouse their own brand product offering increased from 5% to 80%. In July 2007 Arev, via KCAJ, its Icelandic investment fund, acquired a £15m business stake in a tertiary buyout from NBGI Private Equity. A majority shareholding was procured by Mountain Warehouse management. In August 2010 the private-equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, LDC, took a 23% minority stake in the business as part of a £47m buyout. The mid-market private equity division more than doubled its original investment. In November 2013 the management team led by founder and CEO Mark Neale bought out minority shareholder LDC to take full ownership of the retail chain. Mr Neale personally owns 85% of the business. The £85m deal was backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland and asset management firm Alcentra. in 2017 Mountain Warehouse Holdings Limited, set up a new company ‘Zakti Activeware’ which was the new name for ‘Mountain Warehouse Active’ range, and transferred a lot of stock to the new stores. In 2018 Mountain Warehouse Holdings Limited, set up another new company ‘Neon Sheep’ to break into the accessories market and so far is doing much better than Zakti Activeware.
Stores
Mountain Warehouse has over 330 stores in the UK, North America, Europe and New Zealand, including stores in Dublin, Ireland, Vienna, Austria, and stores in Poland including Warsaw. The first Mountain Warehouse store opened in 1997. By August 2002 Mountain Warehouse had opened a further 13 stores in factory outlet centres in the UK and one in Vienna, as well as three concession stores in UK garden centres. The London Covent Garden store was the first of Mountain Warehouse's high street stores. By 2019 Mountain Warehouse opened a further 9 stores in London, located in popular areas such as Regent Street, Fulham and Wimbledon. Mountain Warehouse purchased six of former Woolworths sites, including Fort William, Scotland, St Ives, Cornwall and Buxton, Derbyshire. Mountain Warehouse has continued to secure premises in market towns and locations popular with walkers and holidaymakers. Mountain Warehouse opened its first North America outlet store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada early 2014. It has since further expanded to other North American locations including New Jersey, United States, Burlington, Canada and Vancouver, Canada. Mountain Warehouse's headquarters are located in Victoria, London. A store is also located nearby in Victoria Place in London Victoria station.
Products
Mountain Warehouse has grown from a stock clearance business selling only branded products to a business that sells mainly own brand clothing, footwear and equipment. In 2004 own brands including Mountain Life, Parallel and Snapdragon made up 10% off the businesses products but by 2007 own brand products made up 65%. In 2010 the retailer introduced a more technical clothing range, Mountainlife Extreme. The Mountainlife Extreme clothing range was designed to compete with higher end brands such as The North Face and Berghaus. The Mountainlife and Parallel branding has gradually been phased out with all clothing, footwear and equipment now branded with Mountain Warehouse. Mountainlife Extreme was replaced by Mountain Warehouse Extreme, with footwear, accessories and equipment also included in the range.
