MANCHESTER, Birmingham and Newcastle have been earmarked as
the next sites for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Travelstore agencies.
Sir Richard, who opened the first Virgin Travelstore outlet
in London Victoria last week, said he wants to have around 10 high-street outlets
within three years.
The shops will have a ‘retro-fifties’ look and the main
feature will be plasma screens displaying information down-loaded straight from
the Travelstore website.
Although established operators are looking at closing
high-street retail operations in favour of cheaper methods of distribution, Sir
Richard claims the Virgin name and the fact the agencies are impartial will
ensure the venture does well.
He said: “There are too many agencies selling their own
specific products and they are not doing the trade or themselves any good. It’s
vital that Virgin Travelstore is impartial.”
Virgin’s Worldwide Travel, Travelstore.com and its Teletext
service have combined to trade under the Travelstore name.