Flight Centre is to reopen two stores closed during the pandemic as it rebuilds its retail estate and salesforce.
The long-haul and tailor-made specialist agency cut its shop network from around 80 shops to 12 in 2020, but now plans to open and reopen sites in strategic locations, with an eventual target of 25 to 30 stores.
The first store to reopen will be Ealing, west London, on October 3, followed by Bath before Christmas and more planned for early 2023.
Liz Mathews, UK managing director, said the agency had planned to reduce its retail estate prior to the pandemic, with an initial target of 30 to 40 shops.
She added: “The legacy network meant we had multiple shops in some locations. We want to be in one great location in key towns and cities, and we are actively looking for new sites, mostly in London and the southeast.”
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The company is currently on a recruitment drive, including taking on former members of staff who were made redundant during the pandemic. It currently has 165 leisure sales staff, compared with 550 before the pandemic, and aims to employ about 300 eventually.
Mathews said: “It is a great source of pride that people who have tried other things have decided they want to return.”
She added that improvements to sales systems and other efficiencies made in the past two years meant the workforce was able to be more productive with fewer staff.
“We are seeing impressive productivity gains both from experienced agents and new starters,” she said.
Flight Centre introduced a homeworking division during the pandemic, and is exploring how home-based agents can engage with customers in their local areas if there is no shop presence.
It has also introduced new sales technology across its five markets worldwide, and will be upgrading CRM systems in November to give agents greater access to live product information and editable itineraries.