Matalan plots store expansion in Ireland

Fashion and homeware retailer Matalan is planning to expand into the Irish market as it continues to drive its turnaround strategy.

The retailer has appointed Savills to explore potential locations across Ireland, with a specific focus on retail park units, according to The Times. However, no deal has yet been completed.

Matalan currently operates six retail stores in Northern Ireland, with its first city-centre store in Belfast having opened in 2018.

This marked a departure from its physical retail strategy up until that point, as since entering the Northern Ireland market in the early 2000s, it had focused on out-of-town retail parks, including in Londonderry and Newtownards.

The store expansion builds on Matalan's renewed focus on its physical retail spaces, and follows an additional £25 million in funding that it secured from its core investor group in March to support its multi-year store revamp programme.

At the time, the retailer specified that if drawn, the funding would be used to accelerate its rollout of 40 store upgrades.

The new round of investment followed the previous success of the brand’s multi-year store refresh programme in early 2025. In December 2025, the company shared that it had successfully completed 30 refurbishments over the course of the year, with the refreshed stores already outperforming the wider retail network by 14% in sales, and some locations, including Rhyl, Hull and Wrexham, reporting increases of 20% year-on-year.

This also had a positive impact on its bottom line, with Matalan reporting like-for-like sales growth of 2% in the third quarter of FY26, ending 28 November 2025, with EBITDA up 38% to £27 million. Sales also increased by 1% year-on-year in the nine weeks ending 2 January 2026, covering the crucial Christmas period.

More recently, the retailer announced that it had appointed a new Director of Sourcing, Purchasing, Quality & Fit and a new Head of Quality & Technical, as it also focuses on enhancing its product offer.

This follows the appointment of the retailer's new CEO, Henrik Nordvall, the former Managing Director of H&M UK & Ireland Managing Director Henrik Nordvall, who took over the role in February 2026.

Matalan declined to comment on the reports.