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A veteran retailer has encouraged the government to reject the ‘Queens of Shops’ Mary Portas’s plans to save the UK’s embattled high street, warning that many towns are already “in a death spiral”. Majestic Wine chairman Phil Wrigley, who has been a director at Debenhams, BHS and New Look, compared high streets with the shipbuilding [...]
(Read More)11th Jan 12
M&S food sales up over Xmas
by Paul Russell
Marks & Spencer has reported a rise in sales for the final quarter of 2011, as shoppers stocked up on food and drink for Christmas. Excluding VAT, like-for-like sales over the 13 weeks ending 31 December increased by 0.5 per cent, with food rising by three per cent and general merchandise dropping by 1.8 per [...]
(Read More)9th Jan 12
M&S to announce weak Christmas clothes sales
by Adam Richards
Marks & Spencer is likely to add to the gloom surrounding the high street by announcing weak clothing sales for the Christmas period. The figures, due to be released on Tuesday, will give the biggest guidance to date of festive trading as it is the sector’s bellwether, with over 700 stores in the UK and [...]
(Read More)16th Dec 11
British retailers struggle in Christmas build-up
by Harry Oldfield
The UK’s high streets saw retail sales slump more than expected last month despite heavy discounting. Britain’s retail sales volumes dropped by 0.7 per cent in November, revealed figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), a poorer performance than the forecast for a decline of 0.4 per cent. Retailers are struggling to cope with [...]
(Read More)6th Dec 11
Desperate UK retailers slash prices
by Harry Oldfield
The high street’s biggest names were reducing prices by so much last weekend that analysts are forecasting retailers’ worst Christmas since Lehman Brothers collapsed. Three years ago the American bank’s bankruptcy plunged the global economy into recession and led to the high street being awash with ‘sale’ signs by November. The resulting massive fall in [...]
(Read More)11th Nov 11
Charity Christmas card survey shames Scrooge retailers
by Paul Russell
Retailers which sell charity Christmas cards have been shamed after the revelation that some donate just 1.1 per cent to charitable causes, with the worst offenders being internet shops, according to a Charities Advisory Trust report. The trust’s yearly Scrooge awards, which have been running for a decade, survey retailers to learn which are marketing [...]
(Read More)21st Oct 11
Back to school boost for consumer spending
by Katie Naylor
Purchases of laptops and other gadgets at the beginning of the new school term gave retailers an unexpected boost in September but failed to ease concerns over the sector during the build-up to the busy Christmas trading period. Retail volumes in September increased by 0.6 per cent month-on-month on the back of a downwardly revised [...]
(Read More)21st Oct 11
Debenhams to carry out store expansions
by Harry Oldfield
The new boss of Debenhams insisted that the high street in the UK was “alive and well” as he unveiled plans to modernise an additional 25 outlets and open nine new stores during the coming four years. The department store chain’s expansion drive, which is set to create 4,050 new jobs, comes on the back [...]
(Read More)21st Sep 11
Debenhams expects profits to be £6m ahead of forecast
by Harry Oldfield
The high street received some rare good news when Debenhams announced that profits would be better than expected as sales helped the department store pinch custom from its rivals. Debenhams offered discounts and began its summer sales early to snatch trade from competitors including Next and John Lewis. Last week, John Lewis said that its [...]
(Read More)7th Sep 11
Retailers cut by Citigroup
by Adam Richards
UK consumers are burdened with rising borrowing costs, too much debt and high levels of inflation – a toxic combination, which is set to hit almost all retailers’ profits, stated the broker Citigroup in a gloomy summary. In the latest analysis of the retail sector, Citi has downgraded Kesa and Home Retail Group to Sell [...]
(Read More)