Hays Travel-branded miniple Just Go has set out ambitious expansion plans for a network of 50 high street stores in the next three years.
Known as Hays North West since Hays Travel took a 40% stake in the agency in 2015, Just Go’s shop network across Merseyside, Cheshire and north Wales has doubled to 28 in two years.
In the last 12 months, it has opened shops in Heswall, Rhyl, Widnes, Ormskirk, Southport, West Kirby, Colwyn Bay and the Allerton area of Liverpool.
Managing director Don Bircham said he was looking at sites within Just Go’s Merseyside heartland in towns such as Hightown and Crosby to open more shops.
A new store in St Helens was “close to opening”, he added.
Just Go has also relocated its Warrington store as part of its expansion and acquired Stockton Heath Travel, near Warrington, which is to be rebranded as Hays Travel.
The shops in the network, which now has an annual turnover of £50 million, all have Hays Travel above the door.
Bircham said: “We must be the fastest-growing travel agency in the UK and we see no reason why we can’t get to 50 stores within the next two to three years.
“Independent travel agents have gone through a really prosperous period. We all seem to be doing really well at the moment.”
Just Go launched in 2000 and was a franchise of Tui from 2006 to 2015, when its contract ended.
“Since we joined Hays, it’s like we’ve been taken off the leash,” said Bircham. “We tap into Hays’ infrastructure, which keeps central costs very low.
“There’s definitely room for more independent agencies in the northwest.”