Zumiez's Blue Tomato expands

Blue Tomato, the European action sports retailer now owned by Zumiez, expanded its brick and mortar reach into Germany this week.

Blue Tomato took over three former Goodstuff stores – two in Munich and one in Rosenheim. Blue Tomato is keeping on Goodstuff employees, according to the press release.

Blue Tomato – for now – is mostly an online retailer in Europe, but does have five stores in Austria, which were open prior to the Zumiez acquisition in June.

A new Blue Tomato store in Germany

Zumiez has said expanding Blue Tomato’s retail footprint in Europe is a key part of its international strategy.

Zumiez executives previously said during an earnings conference call that it had scouted potential locations for action sports retail stores in Europe for 18 months prior to the Blue Tomato acquisition.

They also said they were particularly interested in expansion potential in France and Germany.

Zumiez expects that the type of stores that will be opened in Europe will vary, with some street based and some located at the mall, depending on what is the better fit.

Zumiez has also expanded to Canada in the past few years, and executives have said they see opportunity in Latin America and Asia as well.

While international expansion is a key part of Zumiez’s plans, economic problems in Europe did dampen Zumiez’s third quarter results.

Zumiez, one of the best-performing retail companies over the past few years during the U.S. economic malaise, said last week that total Q3 sales came in below plan, mostly because of challenging conditions in Europe.