WHSmith operates approximately 550 high street stores in the UK. Credit: Mark Hillary/ Flickr (Creative Commons).

UK-based retailer WHSmith has announced that it will stop opening new high street stores in the UK.

According to a BBC report citing WHSmith chief executive Carl Cowling, the retailer currently operates approximately 550 high street stores in the UK and said that opening more “would just be a duplication.”

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The BBC quoted Carl Cowling as saying: “We’ve got a very healthy High Street business in the UK. But we’ve got no ambitions to grow that.”

The retailer aims to focus on its travel retail business across UK airports and train stations while expanding its physical presence in the US and Europe.

Cowling stated: “We’ve got a pipeline of 60 stores to open and we’re constantly winning tenders in airports.”

WHSmith has committed to investing £120m ($151.46m) in opening new stores in the US and Europe this year.

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Cowling said: “So in the first half of this year, we opened 30 shops in North America and opened another 30 shops in the second half of this year.”

The company’s biggest growth market is the US, where it claims to have gained 12% of the airport retail market.

Cowling added: “Our ambition is to get to 20% over the course of the next four years and then that will mean probably only the best parts of 150 stores.”

Meanwhile, WHSmith plans to continue investing in its shops. It has a partnership with toy and baby products retailer Toys ‘R’ Us in nine high street outlets in the UK.

The retailer also recently teamed up with charity organisation The Retail Trust for a new initiative to prioritise the health and happiness of its workforce.