Retail news

• Demand for luxury turkeys soars as Covid halts Christmas travel plans

  04-12-2020 22:30
  Drop in overseas trips by Britons and need for more small gatherings means supply is being gobbled up
  
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• Christmas dinner under threat as shoppers gobble up turkeys

  04-12-2020 22:30
  Drop in overseas trips leads to surge in demand for high-end festive birds
  
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• Crisis in retail: the UK town centres struggling to survive

  04-12-2020 20:11
  With the collapse of Debenhams and Arcadia creating more empty stores, many urban centres need a new purpose
  
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• Investors Chronicle: Avon Rubber, Sosandar, Tesco

  04-12-2020 19:00
  Companies analysis from our sister publication
  
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• Ann Summers launches insolvency process to cut rents

  04-12-2020 16:50
  Sex toy and lingerie retailer fights to survive hit from pandemic
  
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• Retail Gazette Loves: The Entertainer customers donating 22,000 toys to the Big Toy Appeal

  04-12-2020 16:15 via retailgazette.co.uk
  The Entertainer customers have got into the Christmas spirt by generating a whopping 22,000 toy donations for The Big Toy Appeal in partnership with the Salvation Army.
  Following a difficult year for many families due to Covid-19 and the financial impacts of the pandemic, The Entertainer asked customers shopping online and in store (where open), to donate an additional toy to a family in need this Christmas to enable all children to experience the wonder of opening a gift from Santa Claus.
  Perh
  
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• Which retailers are giving shop staff a day off on Boxing Day?

  04-12-2020 15:53 via retailgazette.co.uk
  Marks & SpencerLast week Marks & Spencer decided to close stores on Boxing Day, having previously planned to open over 200 stores on the day.
  This not only means the retailer will now close all of its stores in the UK, but its customer contact centre and distribution centre in Castle Donington will also close.
  “Throughout the pandemic, our colleagues have gone above and beyond to deliver for our customers and as we enter the busy festive season they are doubling down on their effor
  
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• Ann Summers launches CVA plan to cut rent on 25 stores

  04-12-2020 15:43 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Ann Summers’ new restructuring plan will cut rents at 25 of its stores
  // It has agreed revised rental terms on its other branches following discussions with landlords
  // It hopes the CVA will move its remaining stores on to turnover-based rentsAnn Summers has launched a restructuring plan which will cut rents at 25 of its stores amid the pandemic.
  The lingerie and sex toy retailer has entered extensive discussions with landlords over plans to switch to turnover-based rents.
  I
  
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• Ann Summers CVA plan to cut rent on 25 stores

  04-12-2020 15:43 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Ann Summers’ new restructuring plan will cut rents at 25 of its stores
  // It has agreed revised rental terms on its other branches following discussions with landlords
  // It hopes the CVA will move its remaining stores on to turnover-based rentsAnn Summers has launched a restructuring plan which will cut rents at 25 of its stores amid the pandemic.
  The lingerie and sex toy retailer has entered extensive discussions with landlords over plans to switch to turnover-based rents.
  I
  
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• Lidl and Pets at Home are latest retailers to repay business rates relief

  04-12-2020 15:38
  More than £1.9bn has been returned to UK government by companies in past few days
  
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• Lidl and Pets at Home join list of firms returning Covid business rates relief

  04-12-2020 14:56
  
  Big six supermarkets have all vowed to return taxpayer handouts as calls grow for £2bn sum to help ailing hospitality tradeLidl and Pets at Home are returning more than £130m of emergency taxpayer support after a dramatic u-turn by Tesco, the UK’s biggest retailer, triggered a domino effect that will see close to £2bn in business rates voluntarily paid to the Treasury.Eight major high street names, including the country’s six biggest food retailers Tesco, Sainsbury&
  
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• Aldi’s “Long Way From Home” Christmas ad voted best in retail this year

  04-12-2020 14:54 via chargedretail.co.uk
  
  Aldi had the most successful Christmas advert this year according to a study which used artificial intelligence facial coding technology to track people’s emotions as they watched.
  Kantar has unveiled its list of the most successful UK Christmas campaigns of 2020, evaluating more than 3000 consumers’ emotional reactions against key dimensions of effective advertising.
  Aldi’s “Long Way From Home” Christmas advert, featuring its recurring favourite Kevin the
  
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• Green light for Northern Ireland non-essential retailers to reopen December 11

  04-12-2020 13:32 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland given go-ahead to reopen next Friday
  // Northern Ireland’s two week circuit breaker lockdown ends December 11
  // 11 council areas across Scotland are also expected to exit a three-week lockdown next FridayNon-essential retailers can reopen next Friday in Northern Ireland, ministers have said.
  The country’s two-week circuit-breaker ends on December 11.
  Businesses such as restaurants, cafes and hotels can also resume trading then but face
  
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• M&S welcomes Fill Your Own concept at third UK store to cut waste

  04-12-2020 13:26 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // M&S launches Fill Your Own concept at a third store in the UK
  // The concept is located at the Staines store in Two Rivers Shopping Centre
  // The grocery range spans pasta, rice, cereal and confectioneryMarks & Spencer has introduced the Fill Your Own concept at a third store in the UK, which encourages shoppers to reduce and reuse with over 50 lines of refillable grocery essentials and frozen fruit.
  The concept is located at the Staines store in Two Rivers Shopping Centre where deman
  
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• Lidl joins Aldi & Big 4 in handing over savings from business rates relief

  04-12-2020 12:44 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Lidl is the latest grocer to announce it will hand over business rates relief to the government
  // The German grocer said the tax relief is worth over £100m
  // The move comes after similar announcements from Aldi, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and MorrisonsLidl has announced that it will pay over £100 million to the government due to the one-year business rates holiday that the Chancellor introduced as a result of the pandemic.
  The German discount grocer said that while the busin
  
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• Primark reports 'phenomenal' trading since lockdowns ended

  04-12-2020 12:01
  
  Sales boom in England, Ireland, France and Belgium but Covid restrictions cost £430mCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe owner of Primark has revealed that the latest wave of Covid-19 lockdowns cost the fashion chain £430m in lost sales but that it has experienced a “phenomenal” jump in sales this week since stores were allowed to reopen.Associated British Foods’ finance director, John Bason, said that trading across reopened Primark
  
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• Philip Green is the Scrooge who haunts millions of garment workers | Meg Lewis

  04-12-2020 12:00
  
  The fallen tycoon leaves behind a mountain of debt, much of it owed to exploited people in Asia earning as little as £4 a dayThe collapse of Arcadia in the lead-up to Christmas, and with it the demise of Sir Philip Green’s controversial reign over the UK high street, has a Dickensian feel to it. Over the years, Green has embodied the role of billionaire boss, brazenly handing his wife a tax-free £1.2bn dividend in 2005 (four times the actual annual profits made by the company),
  
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• Tell us: have you lost your UK retail job as a result of the pandemic?

  04-12-2020 11:46
  
  As the Arcadia retail group goes into administration, we want to hear from retail workers who lost their jobs this yearAround 314,000 people lost their jobs in the three months prior to September in the UK, with hospitality, retailing and leisure amongst the hardest hit industries.As the Arcadia retail group, which owns brands including Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, goes into administration and Debenhams looks set to close for good, we’d like to hear from retailer workers who have lost thei
  
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• Amazon is replacing customers’ missing PS5s as UK retailers receive new stock

  04-12-2020 11:45 via chargedretail.co.uk
  
  Amazon is offering PlayStation 5 customers who failed to receive their consoles first refusal as retailers across the UK receive new stock.
  UK retailers including Argos, Game, Amazon, AO, John Lewis and Curry’s all released a limited batch of PS5 stock yesterday morning, after the console was entirely sold out across the country for two weeks.
  Once again stock sold out almost immediately across the board, and many customers again complained of adding consoles to their baskets before having
  
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• How to save the high street, by the towns that did it

  04-12-2020 11:15
  
  This week, with retail in deep crisis, we dip into our pre-pandemic back catalogue looking for novel ways to reinvent city centresDecember at last, and so time to take stock. It has of course been an annus horribilis, for many of us perhaps the worst year we have lived through.And yet throughout 2020 we – and you – have remarked consistently on silver linings, on new things we’ve learned, on upsides and blessings and the kindness of strangers. It took a dreadful event to make u
  
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• Brits plan to spend £6.2bn on local shops this month

  04-12-2020 10:58 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // 47% of Brits said they will shop with small businesses this month to support local jobs
  // 78% of Brits have said they admire how local businesses have navigated Covid-19
  // 7 in 10 said they appreciate local businesses more now than ever beforeNew research has found that Brits plan to spend £6.2 billion shopping with independent businesses this December.
  Seven in 10 Brits have said they will visit local shops and businesses this month, with an average spend of £169, accordin
  
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• Brits plan to spend £6.2bn on local businesses this month

  04-12-2020 10:58 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // 47% of Brits said they will shop with small businesses this month to support local jobs
  // 78% of Brits have said they admire how local businesses have navigated Covid-19
  // 7 in 10 said they appreciate local businesses more now than ever beforeNew research has found that Brits plan to spend £6.2 billion shopping with independent businesses this December.
  Seven in 10 Brits have said they will visit local shops and businesses this month, with an average spend of £169, accordin
  
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• Arcadia brands halve in value as collapse prompts heavy discounting

  04-12-2020 10:26 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Arcadia’s brands including Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins, now worth about half their £800m value
  // The drop in value comes after the retail group’s administration
  // Sir Philip Green appointed administrators from Deloitte after the company collapsed on MondayTopshop, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins are reportedly now worth about half their £800 million value, following the parent company Arcadia’s administration.
  Arcadia is set to be watched clo
  
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• Primark takes £430m hit from second wave lockdown closures

  04-12-2020 10:05 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Primark lost £430m in sales due to second lockdowns brought about by the second wave
  // It saw 62% of its stores worldwide shut in November
  // Primark says since stores in England, Ireland, Belgium and France have reopened sales have surgedPrimark’s parent company has revealed that lockdowns brought about from the second wave in the pandemic – especially in England – along with regional lockdowns and restrictions, has hit sales to the tune of £430 million.
  Associ
  
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• Management buyout offer for Peacocks to save 4908 jobs

  04-12-2020 09:55 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Management buyout bid submitted for Peacocks
  // The retailer fell into administration in November
  // If the bid is successful, it can save a total of 4908 jobsEdinburgh Woollen Mill Group’s head of ecommerce Josh Lowes has submitted a management buyout bid for Peacocks to its administrators FRP Advisory, in conjunction with a private investor.
  Peacocks went into administration last month, putting over 4700 jobs at risk and a total of 500 shops at risk of permanent closure.
  If the b
  
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• Management buyout bid for Peacocks could save 4908 jobs

  04-12-2020 09:55 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Management buyout bid submitted for Peacocks
  // The retailer fell into administration in November
  // If the bid is successful, it can save a total of 4908 jobsEdinburgh Woollen Mill Group’s head of ecommerce Josh Lowes has submitted a management buyout bid for Peacocks to its administrators FRP Advisory, in conjunction with a private investor.
  Peacocks went into administration last month, putting over 4700 jobs at risk and a total of 500 shops at risk of permanent closure.
  If the b
  
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• Footfall plunges 65% in November, but retail sales increase 3.3%

  04-12-2020 09:49 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Overall UK footfall plummets 65.4% in November, according to BRC-ShopperTrak
  // This has been attributed to the second and month-long lockdown England went through
  // Separately, retail sales from BDO showed a 3.3% rise in retail sales during NovemberShopper numbers plummeted last month as England’s second national lockdown piled pressure on troubled high street retailers, according to new figures.
  The BRC-ShopperTrak footfall monitor for November revealed that footfall across all UK sh
  
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• Pets at Home and B&M follow Big 4 & Aldi to hand over business rates relief

  04-12-2020 09:27 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Pets at Home and B&M the latest “essential retailers” to hand back money they have saved in business rates relief
  // Pets at Home will hand over £28.9m, while B&M will hand over “around £80m”
  // It follows similar moves by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and AldiPets at Home and B&M have become the latest “essential” retailers to agree to pay the government its business rates saving of almost £110 million, following s
  
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• Lockdowns wipe £430m off Primark sales

  04-12-2020 09:12
  Fashion chain reports strong trading in European stores since restrictions were lifted
  
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• Going wild? A radical green plan for Nottingham's unloved shopping centre

  04-12-2020 07:01
  
  Could replacing empty shops with wetlands, woodlands and meadows offer a new model for cities? Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn empty 1970s shopping centre in Nottingham could be transformed into wetlands, pocket woodlands and a wildflower meadow as part of a post-pandemic urban rewilding project.The debate about Broadmarsh shopping centre, considered an eyesore by many, has rumbled on for years. This year it was undergoing a £86m revamp by real estate i
  
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• The high street is doomed? Tell that to the people queuing outside Primark | Gaby Hinsliff

  04-12-2020 07:00
  
  We are rediscovering shopping as a social activity under Covid restrictions – but only the government can give retail a chance
  When all this is over, what I want more than anything else is to be in a crowd. Any crowd, really. Parties would be the dream; a joyfully sweaty crush with barely room to reach the bar, and the promise of drunken dancing to follow. But at this stage, even the collective hush when the lights dim in a packed cinema would do. Lately I’ve even been feeling unexpe
  
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• The inadequate trials of Philip Green

  04-12-2020 05:00
  Pilloried retail tycoon has been less aggressive than private equity groups on high street
  
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• UK food and drink trends 'fundamentally reshaped' by pandemic

  04-12-2020 01:01
  
  Waitrose report says cooking at home is the new commute and more people buying food onlineCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBritons are drinking rosé all year round and firing up their barbecues in the depths of winter, according to a report on how food and drink trends have been “fundamentally reshaped” by the pandemic.Cooking at home has even become the new commute, providing a clear separation between work time and home time, the study claims
  
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• Amex card scheme offers £5 back for £10 spent in small businesses

  04-12-2020 01:01
  
  Latest stage of Shop Small incentive run by American Express since 2012 begins on SaturdaySpend £10 and get £5 back – that’s effectively what’s on offer from a promotion encouraging people to tick items off their Christmas shopping list while supporting small businesses.American Express has been running its Shop Small offers in the UK since 2012, and the latest one starts on Saturday, which is also Small Business Saturday. Continue reading...
  
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• Zara opens new UK concept store at Bluewater

  04-12-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Zara has opened a new concept store for the  UK at the Bluewater shopping destination. At 37,000 square feet, the shop is double the size of... View Article
  
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• TK Maxx adds chewable vitamins to its health and wellbeing range

  04-12-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  TK Maxx is to add chewable vitamin products to its health and wellbeing product offering in response to a growing demand for supplements. The retailer will... View Article
  
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• Ted Baker launches personalised shopping experience

  04-12-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Ted Baker has launched a new personalised shopping experience to bring the immersive nature of its stores to customers online. Customers visiting its website are now... View Article
  
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• Quiz launches new collection with former Love Island contestants

  04-12-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Fashion retailer Quiz has launched a new Q by Quiz collection that is fronted by former Love Island contestants Joanna Chimonides and Kady McDermott. The retailer... View Article
  
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• Pets at Home to repay £28.9 million of business rates relief

  04-12-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Pets at Home has joined a range of other retailers in deciding to repay the business rates relief it received  during the Covid-19 pandemic. The retailer... View Article
  
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• Morrisons to give up Covid-19 business rates relief

  04-12-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Morrisons has committed to pay business rates for the coronavirus period in full after considering the issue for some time. The news follows Tesco’s announcement that... View Article
  
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• Aldi to repay full value of business rates relief

  04-12-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Supermarket Aldi has committed to returning the full value of the business rates relief it has received during the coronavirus pandemic. In a short statement, the... View Article
  
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