Retail news

• Sports Direct managers accuse firm of making them work on furlough

  03-05-2020 16:30
  
  Staff allegedly asked to pack goods but practice breaches government rulesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMike Ashley’s Sports Direct and House of Fraser chains are asking store managers to return to work on reduced pay on Monday – after weeks of asking them to work while under furlough.As Ashley’s managers prepare to return, staff told the Guardian they had been asked to volunteer to go into stores about one day a week since the entire store t
  
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• Leading indie retail group shares “life after lockdown” strategy

  03-05-2020 15:16 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // British Independent Retailers Association shares “life after lockdown” strategy for retailers
  // Group called for restrictions to be first lifted for smaller shops
  // The strategy consists of a 10-point planThe British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has shared a 10-point “life after lockdown” strategy and urged the government to consider lifting restrictions on smaller retailers first.
  In an open letter on Bira’s website, chief executive Andrew Goodacre
  
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• Leading indie retail group shares “life after lockdown” stragegy

  03-05-2020 15:16 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // British Independent Retailers Association shares “life after lockdown” strategy for retailers
  // Group called for restrictions to be first lifted for smaller shops
  // The strategy consists of a 10-point planThe British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has shared a 10-point “life after lockdown” strategy and urged the government to consider lifting restrictions on smaller retailers first.
  In an open letter on Bira’s website, chief executive Andrew Goodacre
  
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• How Tesco's 'doomsday exercise' helped it cope with the coronavirus

  03-05-2020 15:00
  
  Supermarket boss Dave Lewis details how remote working tools were in place and supply systems readied for an emergency Four years ago, Dave Lewis, the boss of Tesco, ran a “doomsday” management exercise in which UK’s biggest supermarket chain imagined its head office in Welwyn Garden City would have to shut down completely.“At the time people said it was a bit ridiculous and extreme,” says Lewis. Related: British supermarkets draft in army of temps to 'feed the nati
  
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• Frasers Group property boss criticises Westfield for resisting turnover rent

  03-05-2020 14:56 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Frasers Group property chief Michael Murray accuses Westfield of resisting turnover-based rental agreements
  // Murray also expects Frasers Group to axe scores of shops as a result of the coronavirus crisisFrasers Group’s property chief has said Westfield bosses have “their heads in the clouds” after accusing them for resisting turnover-based rental agreements.
  According to The Sunday Times, Michael Murray – who runs the property arm of Frasers Group and happens to be t
  
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• Landlords in talks to have taxpayers subsidise unpaid retail rent

  03-05-2020 14:08 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Landlords in talks to “furlough” shops as rents go unpaid
  // The scheme is based on a similar plan introduced successfully in Denmark
  // UK Government invited industry leaders last week to help prepare a “furloughed space grant scheme” proposalLandlords are reportedly in talks with the government to see if unpaid retail rent bills due to the coronavirus pandemic could be placed on a furlough scheme of sorts.
  According to The Telegraph, the UK Government is co
  
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• Superdrug becomes latest retailer to slash rent payments to landlords

  03-05-2020 13:00
  Health and beauty chain cites ‘unprecedented decline’ in footfall during coronavirus pandemic
  
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• After Covid-19: How will a socially distanced high street actually work?

  03-05-2020 08:27
  
  With non-essential businesses still closed, retailers share their plans – and fears – for the futureCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBritain’s once bustling high streets are now eerily quiet, with all non-essential shops closed and thousands of staff furloughed. Many may never reopen as the lockdown accelerates shifts to online shopping, while others will have to find ways to adapt to a radically different retail world of long-term social distan
  
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• Empty stores: repurpose them

  03-05-2020 08:00
  An occupied home has utility no empty shop can match
  
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• An end to the lockdown can’t mean an end to government financial support

  03-05-2020 07:48
  
  The PM is right to have promised plans for a return to normality, but he must do so with an eye to ongoing state interventionBritain hopes that lockdown restrictions will be eased soon. In a tantalising press conference last week, Boris Johnson raised expectations by declaring that the UK was now past the peak of the coronavirus outbreak. Six weeks into the shutdown of the British economy to limit the spread of the virus, the prime minister will this week set out a plan for the reopening of scho
  
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