THE boss of Beales has said the business is on the way back to profitability after its takeover earlier this year.

Executive chairman Stuart Lyons said the department store chain had reaped rewards from a Back to Beales campaign, with the flagship Bournemouth branch reporting its best June trading for 20 years.

But he said the summer slump in the retail trade, along with the impact of the A338 roadworks, had slowed its performance since then.

Beales, founded in Bournemouth in 1881, has 29 department stores across the country.

It was returned to private ownership in April, when investor Andrew Perloff bought it for just £1.2m.

Mr Lyons, a former chief executive of Royal Doulton and Airsprung, was put in charge of the business and devised the Back to Beales campaign.

He said: “We’ve had the best June in Bournemouth that the business has had in the past 20 years. We launched the Back to Beales campaign, we had a change of ownership.

“It was a massive success in sales and profits. Business has been slower over the summer and since the summer for probably three reasons.

“First of all, it’s quite clear that there’s been a slowdown in retail spend over the summer.

“Secondly, a lot of people who were unable to do so during and after the recession took their holidays abroad.

“The third thing that’s affected us in this area is the traffic congestion from the A338, which has meant that for a temporary period we’re going to be struggling to attract business from out of town.”

Variations of the “Back to Beales” slogan are being repeated throughout the store.

“We want customers to come back to Beales with confidence that we represent the value and quality that they believe in,” said Mr Lyons.

“I’ve been very pleased by the quality of our staff and management, their loyalty and the way they’re responding to the changes that this is that this strategy entails. They are working wonders in the way the store is presented, in its events in store and in merchandising.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to bring the business back to profitability. It’s just a question of how long it will take.”

He said the stores had attractive window displays, while the interiors were being opened up to aid flow around the store.

“We’ve stopped being cheap, we’ve stopped being poor quality. We’re recognising that customers in Bournemouth and Poole want to see better quality, branded products but they don’t want to be taken for a ride when it comes to prices,” he added.