House of Bruar is keen to press ahead with a major warehouse extension at Ballinluig for its mail order business to overcome disruption from the A9 dualling roadworks.
The Highland Perthshire retailer of luxury goods and provisions views the £3 billion upgrade of the Perth-Inverness route as an opportunity and concern.
Managing director Patrick Birkbeck said: “The numbers of visitors to the area will increase enormously once the road is finished, but the process and construction phase will cause problems.”
Access to the store north of Blair Atholl will be disrupted and trade could be affected, although representations to the Scottish Parliament and council had been well received.
Mr Birkbeck believes an expansion of his company’s direct shopping operations would be needed to maintain performance.
Ideally the mail order operations will move 14 miles down the A9 to Ballinluig to aid the progression to a multi-season mail order business.
He continued: “We are close to gaining planning permission for an expansion of nearly 80,000ft2 of warehouse and distribution space at Ballinluig.”
Perth and Kinross Council said the neighbourhood consultation process for the Ballinluig application does not close until November 20, suggesting a decision may not be made until later this year or next year.
House of Bruar’s turnover rose by 4.65% to £23.8 million in the year to January 2015, and pre-tax profit increased by a similar level to £5m.
Mr Birkbeck said the balance sheet and profitability continued to improve, with the number of store visitors rising, but the economy still made trading difficult.
The core operation continued to be the retail of clothing, with mail order brochure revenue increasing and complementing the internet site.
Mr Birkbeck said the House of Bruar boasts some of Britain’s finest produce, clothing and rural art work.
It is also a significant contributor to the local economy with the workforce rising by 14% to 214 during the year.
House of Bruar is led by Mark and Linda Birkbeck and their sons Patrick and Tom.
The parents began in retailing in England and opened the chain of Jumpers stores whose customers included Diana, Princess of Wales.
After selling the chain in 1992 they bought the site at Bruar, demolished the hotel and built the retail complex which has become a magnet for visitors.