Just this month, the San Francisco-based company — which owns Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PTteen, West Elm, Williams-Sonoma Home, Rejuvenation and recently, Mark and Graham — announced the construction of four new stores in Australia and opened another Williams-Sonoma store in Canada. It also launched its first Williams-Sonoma brand store outside of North America in Kuwait, as well as a West Elm. The retailer has found a solid partner in international retail franchise operator M.H. Alshaya, which helped Williams-Sonoma open its newest 11,000-square-foot store in The Avenues in Kuwait, one of the Middle East’s largest shopping venues. Alshaya also helped the company launch the first franchise operation of Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids stores in the Middle East two years ago. The new 8,000-square-foot store in Quebec, Canada will be the retailer’s eighth store in the country. In Australia, the company began construction on four retail stores and has started hiring in anticipation of a 2013 launch. The retailer signed a lease in August for 22,0000 square feet of retail space for a Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and West Elm at the exchange building in Sydney. “As we solidify our opening strategy for Australia, we are increasingly convinced about the opportunity that global represents for our company,” said CEO Laura Alber during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. The four stores will be the company’s first retails locations out of Norht America to be owned and operated by the Williams-Sonoma. In the United States, the company is trying to promote its PBteen line with five holiday popup stores throughout the country. It’s also expanding its West Elm brand. The company opened five new West Elm stores in the third quarters and plans to open an additional four stores in the fourth quarter, making a total of 47 stores by the end of the year. Net revenue for the company increased by 3 percent in the third quarter of this year to $729 million.

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