I would love to know if considering the current economic...

I would love to know if considering the current economic environment they were able to negotiate benefits for the new stores i.e. lower long term rents, cheaper deals with suppliers due to further economies of scale. If you can manage that then expanding during a downturn can work for you.

I'm cautiously optimistic (although not panglossian) long term about Dusk and bought in a bit more after the AGM yesterday. Other discretionary retailers are a mixed bag - some big multinational companies with branches outside of Aus like KMD and Lovisa are doing well but many purely Aus-based retailers have either been poor since COVID (Mosaic Brands) or are in a big slump (Adairs). Dusk is still profitable and paying dividends, has money in the bank with no debts and is growing its footprint in a way that for now appears to be manageable. They are far from struggling or needing to raise capital. They are doing OK considering.