B&Q plans to open 50 smaller stores

B&Q plans to open “at least 50” smaller stores in the UK this year despite a sharp decline in profit. Kingfisher, which owns B&Q, said pretax profit dropped by 20% to £758m in the year to January, with sales declining by 0.9% to £13bn. The 50 small and medium-sized B&Q Local stores will be pushed out from London across the UK as it seeks to be closer to customers. The group has identified 50 locations where it could open B&Q Locals or medium-sized 40,000-50,000 sq ft sites – compared with 120,000 sq ft for its traditional big boxes and 3,000-8,000 sq ft for the new high street stores. Kingfisher also plans to open 60 more Screwfix stores over the year. The group is planning 25 stores in France next year and 80 smaller Castorama stores in Poland over the next five years. The Times (£)The Guardian