Retail news

• Just two buyers left in race to buy WH Smith high street division – report

  09-03-2025 20:17
  
  Alteri and Modella Capital are the only two parties remaining in talks, according to Sky NewsThere are only two buyers left in the race to buy retailer WH Smith’s ailing high street division, according to a report.The retail group confirmed in January it was seeking a buyer for its 500 UK high street shops, in a shake-up that would leave it free to focus on its more successful travel arm, where it has stores in railway stations, airports and hospitals in the UK and abroad. Continue reading
  
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• WHSmith inches closer to sale of high street business

  09-03-2025 19:44 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  WHSmith is closing in on the sale of its High Street business as only two bidders remain to take on the 500-plus store portfolio.
  Private equity firms Alteri, which owns Bensons for Beds, and Hobbycraft-owner Modella Capital are now the two remaining parties in talks with the retailer and its advisors about a potential deal, Sky News reported.
  HMV owner Doug Putman is no longer in talks with bankers at Greenhill, however, the Canadian billionaire could pitch a new offer before the auction conclu
  
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• Asda puts car parks up for sale to pay down debts

  09-03-2025 15:17 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Asda is selling off some of its supermarket car parks as it looks to pay down its mounting debt pile.
  The grocery chain is understood to have launched a process to offload almost 10 acres of car parking space and nearby fields at five of its stores, The Telegraph reported.
  Newsteer, which has been advising Asda on the sales, has informed potential developers that Asda has identified “surplus space” at its stores in Slough, Reading, Burgh Heath near Epsom, Tilbury in Essex and Cardiff
  
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• John Lewis partners watch the profits rack up – but still not the bonuses

  09-03-2025 15:00
  After a tricky few years, the group has bounced back, but, says its new chair, cash rewards for workers must waitProfits are set to double at the owner of John Lewis and Waitrose, but it is likely to be a third barren year for the staff bonus as the retail group targets hourly pay and revamping its stores instead.The staff-owned John Lewis Partnership, which runs 36 department stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain, has not paid a bonus to workers in three of the past four years, after diving
  
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• Who bought this smoked salmon? How ‘AI agents’ will change the internet (and shopping lists)

  09-03-2025 12:00
  Autonomous digital assistants are being developed that can carry out tasks on behalf of the user – including ordering the groceries. But if you don’t keep an eye on them, dinner might not be quite what you expect …I’m watching artificial intelligence order my groceries. Armed with my shopping list, it types each item into the search bar of a supermarket website, then uses its cursor to click. Watching what appears to be a digital ghost do this usually mundane task is str
  
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• Greggs is no longer on such a roll

  09-03-2025 06:00
  Before last year, the bakery chain had enjoyed three years of double-digit like-for-like revenue growth
  
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