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WH Smith has reportedly revealed plans to open a souvenir and stationery store called Curi.o.city as it looks to fill the void left by the collapsed paperchase, according to The Times.
According to the report, WH Smith will open standalone shops, one under the new fascia in Gatwick airport’s south and north terminals on March 16 and another one at King’s Cross railway station at the beginning of April.
Curi.o.city will sell stationery, gifts and souvenirs from a mix of third-party brands including East London Liquor Company, Biscuiteers and Soapsmith.
WH Smith has also run trials with premium gifts at its airport shops.
The outlet also highlighted that Carl Cowling, chief executive, saw “fresh opportunities” after the failure of Paperchase, one of its “main” competitors, this year.
Last month, Tesco acquired the British gift and stationery brand out of administration in a deal that did not include its 106 shops or 900 staff.
WH Smith has reportedly also hired several employees from the Paperchase head office team who worked in buying and merchandising roles and is planning to take over the Paperchase concession in the Selfridges shop in Manchester.
After establishing about 550 travel shops in the UK and around 250 in 32 overseas markets, the business is on an expansion drive, investing more than £100m in new shops, the report suggested.
It comes as WH Smith revealed in January that the group’s travel business had seen ‘continued momentum’ since the start of the financial year, resulting in a revenue increase of 48% on FY19.
