Ten pop-up shops planned to boost Christmas sales for Carluccio's

Italian-style restaurant group Carluccio's is set to open 10 pop-up shops around England as part of a drive to boost Christmas sales.

Each shop will be located near an existing Carluccio's site, and will be open from mid-November to Christmas Eve. Venues will include Liverpool, Manchester Trafford Centre, Leicester, Bristol Cabots Circus, Leamington, Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Exeter, Worcester, Bath and Milton Keynes.

The pop-ups will sell the entire Carluccio's Christmas range, including gift boxes, panettone cake, biscuits and other sweet products. There will also be "special shopping evenings" on 27 November and 4 December, in which shoppers will receive a 10% discount, plus mulled wine and canapés.

Simon Kossoff, chief executive of Carluccio's, explained that the brand had tested the idea before, and found it to be successful.

He said: "We trialled a handful of Christmas pop-up shops last year and they were extremely successful in generating additional sales over our most important retail period. It made perfect commercial sense to use empty sites nearby our restaurants to roll-out further temporary stores."

Started as a food shop by Carluccio and his wife in 1991, Carluccio's operated as a wholesale business before opening its first "caffe" in London, in 1999.

It now has more than 45 sites across the country, plus locations in Ireland and across the Middle East.

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