Ex-Zavvi boss to replace Thomas at Luminar
Simon Douglas, the former head of music retailer Zavvi, is set to takeover from Steve Thomas as Luminar's new chief executive.
He will takeover the helm of Britain's biggest nightclub group next month.
Steve Thomas, the founder and current chief executive, is expected to conduct a handover with his successor, staying on at the group until July.
Douglas, 44, has an extensive background in high street music retailing, having held senior positions at HMV and Virgin Retail Group.
He led a management buyout of Virgin's Megastore chain — comprising 130 stores — in September 2007, overseeing the renaming of the business to Zavvi.
It is thought that Douglas and his fellow management team received a significant "dowry", as much as £20m, to take the loss-making chain from Sir Richard Branson's group.
His bold bid to turnaround the chain was ultimately unsuccessful. He subsequently bought seven former Zavvi stores when the business was placed in administration in February 2009 with Ernst & Young, forming a new business called Head Entertainment. The stores operated by Head stopped trading in January 2010.
Through his time at Virgin, Douglas will be known to the Luminar board — John Jackson, a non-executive on both the boards of Luminar and The Restaurant Group (and the current CEO of the Jamie Oliver Group), is a former executive director of the Virgin Group.
Luminar founder
Thomas formed Luminar almost 22 years ago. The business was listed in the mid-1990s and at its peak operated almost 300 venues. A focus on large-scale branded venues has seen the business slimmed down to about 85 core clubs across the UK.
The outgoing chief executive is expected to remain involved in the leisure sector, possibly adding some non-executive directorships.
"Stephen has pioneered many of the modern operating trends now prevalent in the industry," said Luminar chairman Alan Jackson.
"He leaves us a great asset base and a strong, experienced and loyal team of people. We would like to thank him for his outstanding dedication to the company and for committing to a well-planned handover. We wish him well for the future.
"I am delighted to welcome Simon to Luminar. He has grown consumer businesses in tough markets and I have no doubt that under his leadership, as trading conditions improve, Luminar is well positioned to leverage its strengths into shareholder value."
• Opinion: Luminar nears end of an era with Thomas departure
