To Leicester’s pantheon of home-grown successes (Showaddywaddy, Next and the Foxes) should surely be added Dunelm. The home products retailer has had a tremendous sales and profits run since floating in 2006. It is, however, still a bit of a mystery to City fund managers, few of whom live in Catford, the closest it gets to a central London branch.
That is about to change as Dunelm targets the capital for three out of nine planned store openings this year. The push into London and the southeast should help to spawn a new source of well-off shoppers and a new investor fan base for a company that competes with John Lewis at the top end and pound shops at the bottom for everything from