A familiar brand on the high street of a Cotswold town will soon have a whole new look - if planners agree on an update to reflect the firm's new owners. 

But the change runs far deeper than mere paintwork.

As well as being a traditional retail outlet in Stow, Scotts of Stow, which started out in the town in 1991, is also the sole tangible front for a nationally-distributed mail order firm which operates what the firm claims to be the UK's premier homeware catalogue. 

In all, Scotts Ltd's operation is estimated to employ some 135 people, while the firm says that the popularity of the brand through mail order ensures that more than 75,000 customers are drawn to the town to visit its physical store each year.

But those visitors to Stow will soon see a change: the application now before Cotswold District Council seeks to remove the existing Scotts signage, at The Square in the town centre, and replace it with fascia changes that reflect the firm's new owners – WoolOvers.

Direct-to-consumer lifestyle retailer Woolovers acquired Scotts on March 3, 2023, after the cash-strapped Cotswold firm went into administration owing £8.2m to unsecured creditors.

After 2022's annual losses totalled £3.2m, a pre-pack deal signed off by administrators ReSolve at £2.7m (which included £1m goodwill) saw WoolOvers step in to take over, "declining trade and profitability" being cited as the key reasons for the sale. All jobs in the deal were saved.

West-Sussex based WoolOvers, which started out in 1989 when Mark and Clare Shenton began selling cable-knit jumpers, was bought in 2015 by Langholm Capital. The business had a busy first half of this decade on the portfolio front: in 2023, through its immediate parent firm Verdane, it also acquired Hotter Shoes in similar circumstances to the Scotts Ltd deal, while a year later it snapped up e-retailer Thought Clothing, adding the over-50s fashion name to its portfolio alongside Pure Collection and Roama.

Scotts, as part of WoolOver, now also finds itself in the same Langholm-owned stable of brands that include Dorset Cereals, Tyrrels crisps and and beauty product brand Lumene.

Speaking on Scott's rescue, Mike Lester, CEO, WoolOvers said: "The addition of Scotts Ltd enables us to accelerate our strategy to grow our market share within the over 50s market. We believe that Scotts Ltd is a perfect fit for us and our existing customer base and look forward to being able to work with the team at Scotts."

● A design and access statement from Bishop Stortford-based Ampersand told planners the green signage change intends to reflect the business's new branding for the existing tenant.