House of Fraser to launch small fashion chain

House of Fraser is developing a new small-store fashion format that could aid its expansion plans in town and city centres. Don McCarthy, chairman of House of Fraser, who is also a Baugur board director, said the group had worked up plans for small stores which would be branded HOF - rather than the full House of Fraser name.

The stores would focus on fashion - including its own labels such as Linea, which McCarthy has said he expects to increase from a £30m business to a £100m one. McCarthy said: 'There are certain cities, such as Cambridge, where we don't think we can have a big store - but we could have a smaller fashion store.' He said the new format would be between 40,000 sq ft and 50,000 sq ft, less than half the group's usual 100,000 sq ft to 120,000 sq ft format.