STORES: The Next Generation: Liz Houghton, Mint Velvet CEO & Co-founder
In today’s episode of Stores: The Next Generation in partnership with Critizr we're talking to Liz Houghton, CEO and Co-founder of premium women’s fashion brand and retailer Mint Velvet. The brand was born out of the last major crisis to hit Britain’s high streets, the financial crash of the late 2000s.Houghton founded the brand, with a focus on relaxed glamour for the 30-plus woman, with two former colleagues Lisa Agar-Rea and Jane Rawlings in just three months, filling a gap in the market and becoming an almost instant success. Today Mint Velvet is available on its own website, its chain of more than 40 stores and at John Lewis and Next.The brand's aesthetic has proved a hit during the Covid-19 lockdowns with online sales skyrocketing but its stores, often based in local neighbourhoods where staff know their customers personally, are crucial to its success. Houghton tells Lauretta Roberts, Editor in Chief of TheIndustry.fashion, how the business has fared over the past 12 months and why she’s optimistic about the future of retail. Critizr has produced a spotlight report for the Fashion and Beauty market, called The New Retail Journey, that can be downloaded here and the findings of this report have driven the content of these podcasts.