High Street
The latest news, updates and analysis on the the British High Street and UK retail industry. Sign up to the Daily Briefing and let Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Jan- 2024 -8 January
Matalan invests £35m to lower prices
Matalan has announced that it has invested £35m to cut prices on over 700 products amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. The investment is funding price reductions across all core categories from January, online and in store. Prices are being cut by an average of 15% across core and…
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5 January
Boots Q1 driven by record-breaking Black Friday
Boots has revealed it delivered a strong performance in its first quarter of the year, ended 30 November 2023, as retail sales jumped 9.8% aided by a “record-breaking” Black Friday. The retailer, owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance, also revealed it secured its 11th consecutive quarter of market share growth, with…
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4 January
Festive shopping boosts footfall 6.1% in December
Footfall across UK retail destinations rose by +6.1% from November to December as poor weather conditions, rail disruption and the cost of living crisis failed to deter festive shoppers. According to the latest data from MRI Software, December was predominantly boosted by the fourth week of the month, the final…
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Dec- 2023 -15 December
Currys boss criticises gov’s minimum wage plans
Currys CEO Alex Baldock has accused the government of not caring about the retail industry after claiming its decision to raise the minimum wage would “load more costs onto an already overburdened sector”. It comes after chancellor Jeremy Hunt outlined plans to raise the legal minimum wage by 10% to…
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15 December
Naked Wines H1 sales fall 20% as losses widen
Naked Wines total revenues fell by 20% to £132.3m during the six months ended 2 October, while its pre-tax losses widened to £9.7m from £200k a year earlier. The results come as the retailer’s revenues dropped in all markets, which it attributed to a reduction in repeat customer sales. However,…
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5 December
Marks and Spencer extends Christmas trading hours
Marks and Spencer has announced that it has extended its Christmas trading hours from 18-22 December with more than 400 stores open from 6am until 10pm. Additionally, a number of stores will also be open until 10pm on 23 December and 4pm on Christmas Eve for last minute Christmas shoppers.…
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4 December
Lush CEO blames govt for high street decline
Lush CEO Mark Constantine has attributed the decline of the high street to the Conservative government’s decision to cut council finances, The Times has reported. Constantine told The Times that high streets in Britain are “deserted” due to more local councils being pushed into a state of bankruptcy by a…
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4 December
Jollyes owner mulls £100m sale
The owner of Jollyes, private equity firm Kester Capital, is considering a sale of the pet retailer for around £100m, according to reports from The Times. City sources told The Times that Kester Capital, is working with financial advisors at Houlihan Lokey on “strategic options” for the business. Jollyes currently…
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1 December
Early signs of footfall recovery ahead of festive trading, BRC finds
The retail sector experienced early signs of footfall recovery in November as total UK footfall decreased by 0.7% in November(YoY), an improvement on -5.7% in October, according to the latest data from the BRC. High Street footfall decreased by 1.7%, an improvement on -4.6% in October, whereas Retail Parks again…
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Nov- 2023 -30 November
Jollyes HY sales jump 31% to £70m
Jollyes has revealed that it posted sales of £70m for the 26 weeks ended 27 November 2023, up 33% from the £54m it posted in the same period last year. Furthermore, in the period the company posted like-for-like sales of 19%, up from the 17% like-for-like number Jollyes achieved in…
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