LUSH has said physical retail remains crucial to the business as it invests £7.6million in new and revamped shops.

The Poole-headquartered cosmetics maker is spending the money in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.

Last week, it agreed a 15-year lease on a new shop on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street at a rent of £900,000 a year.

It has also doubled the size of its Bluewater shop in Kent and will be opening its biggest shop in Ireland, in the Dundrum Town Centre shopping mall, later this year.

The two are among nine new shops to be opened between January 2022 and June 2023, with stores in Ipswich and London Victoria station also on the list.

There will also be 23 shops in mainland Europe, including eight in France, five in Germany, and further projects across Spain, Hungary, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Czech Republic.

Since January, the store has completed 16 new shops, relocations and refits.

Lush global property director Paul Wheatley said: “Since the opening of our first shop in 1995 in Poole, customers have constantly been at the forefront of everything we do – from product invention to customer service.

“Physical retail has always been important to us, as it enables us to provide our customers with exceptional, award winning service.

“That interaction and the conversations we have with our customers allow us to determine the product they require to meet any particular need, ensuring they always go away with the right products.

“We have been described by customers as an oasis of kindness on the high street and this is what we’ve always strived for; offering expertise and kindness to make people’s day. Our shops are a space for the local community to get together, our retailers and shop colleagues are involved in their local communities and we believe that high streets have the opportunity to become community hubs.

“Our goal is to keep things exciting for the customer with a flexible dynamic of retail and digital. Being experiential is not enough; you have to be inspirational.”

Last year, Lush refurbished and reopened its branch in London’s Oxford Street, which it calls its number one shop and spa in the world. The store welcomed 2,800 customers in its first weekend, selling more than 5,500 products.

The company’s stores its largest single market, North America, recently joined the main Lush Group. The company says there is an even greater need to ensure all markets have access to the same products, concepts and online features as the home market.

Lush says it wants to build up the size of its stores so they can accommodate "new concepts".