I shut The Works website to focus on shops instead - and the High Street is paying off, reveals boss Gavin Peck

Gavin Peck knows something is wrong if he visits one of his shops and doesn’t bring anything home for his young daughters. 

It means what’s on offer has ‘got a bit stale’, says the boss of discount retailer The Works.

But recently, Peck, 45 this month, has been returning with two or three bags full of goodies.

He says: ‘They run to the door, “Daddy’s home, where’s our treats?” they demand.’

It suggests The Works – whose yellow branded shops have become a staple of many shopping malls since it was founded in 1981 – is getting it right. But times are tough – as they are for most retailers.

Affordability is key with cash-strapped shoppers set to feel the squeeze even more when energy bills soar this winter.

The Works, which has more than 500 shops in the UK and Ireland, offers ‘dupes’ of popular, but pricey toys such as Lego and Labubus, the viral collectible monster figures. Do children care it’s not the real thing? Yes, maybe, Peck concedes, but it’s not them buying.

When Peck joined as chief executive in 2020, the business had a reputation of ‘piling it high and selling it cheap’. It has since ‘worked really hard’ to broaden its appeal.

This includes making shops ‘more inviting’ – ‘you wouldn’t have been able to get a buggy around our shop five years ago’, he admits – and stocking more ‘relevant products, not just old clearance stuff that people didn’t want.’

Peck is trying to appeal to a TikTok-savvy generation, which will also make for the retailer’s ‘best Christmas ever’, he insists.

What about books, where the business began? Well, they take up less space than they used to in shops – but they’re still big sellers.

The brand has moved to top-selling titles. Peck says: ‘We wouldn’t have had Richard Osman in three or four years ago.’

Its market share on books is 11 per cent by volume, sitting with Waterstones and travel retailer WHSmith in the top three biggest bricks-and-mortar book retailers in the UK.

New titles set to do well include the sixth in fantasy writer Sarah J Maas’s A Court Of Thorns And Roses series and psychological thriller The Witch by Freida McFadden.

The retailer has started stocking Pokemon cards, after not selling them due to fears over staff safety. The trading cards craze is so rampant they are a target for criminal gangs. A bigger issue is what he calls ‘nuisance theft’.

One of Peck’s biggest changes was shutting The Works’ website in March to focus on shops. It may go against the shift to online, but he says it has been a ‘real positive’ with evidence that online customers have been heading into stores.

He says the website was ‘becoming a distraction’ given the challenge of selling low-priced items. He is upbeat about no longer having to compete with online giants and says it hasn’t stopped growth.

He adds: ‘Kids want to come in and touch and feel the product.’

Peck is among those asking ministers to crack down on a customs duty loophole that lets foreign online retailers, including China’s Shein and Temu, dodge paying tax on cheap parcels sent to the UK. The Government has pledged to do this before October 2028, but retailers say this is far too late.

‘If that could happen quicker, that would level the playing field a little bit,’ Peck says, and hits out at the deluge of unregulated products flooding into the UK.

‘When customers buy from us, they can have the confidence that it’s going to be a good-quality product, it’s going to be safe, and we are subject to regulations.’

He is also pushing an array of ‘screen-free activities’ for children. As the Government moves to ban social media for under-16-year-olds, it is a pertinent issue.

But, as a parent, he knows that often the ‘easiest thing’ to do is to put a child ‘in front of an iPad’.

Peck’s first experience in retail was helping his aunt and uncle with their Spar franchise with his cousins in the school holidays.

‘We used to do stock takes and when we finished about midnight, we used to do trolley races around the shop – that was fun,’ he recalls.

After training as an accountant and working in corporate finance, Peck joined Card Factory, becoming commercial director.

He says: ‘I’ve never been that excited about just putting a set of accounts together, that side of finance, but understanding how the business operates, how it ticks, and what makes it work was a great grounding.’

Growing up in a large family, with ‘huge Christmases’ and now being a dad, has also helped give him perspective for the business.

He says: ‘Having the kids who are at that age living and breathing our products, gives me a really good sense of our products.’

Like others, Peck is frustrated by the lack of action on business rates, which he says can be higher than rents for some shops.

Another distraction was a boardroom bust-up this summer involving The Works’ board and activist investor Kelso, which holds 10 per cent of the retailer. Kelso accused The Works’ chairman Steve Bellamy of not spending enough time in the UK and dialling into board meetings from New Zealand.

It wanted to install a former Card Factory director to the board but the plan was defeated at The Works’ annual general meeting.

In his first public comments since, Peck said he was pleased investors had backed the board.

‘Kelso are a sizeable shareholder and we will keep engaging with them going forwards’, he said. ‘But for now, that is behind us.’