London
This coverage focuses on retail activity, trends, and developments in London, a central hub of the UK retail industry. Reporting highlights flagship store openings, property developments, regional economic factors, consumer behaviour, and strategic moves by both international and domestic brands. Tailored for retail executives and managers, it offers insights into operating and competing in one of the world’s most dynamic retail markets.
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Mar- 2022 -28 MarchSupermarkets
Lidl to create over 1,200 warehouse jobs by 2025
Lidl GB has announced that it will be creating more than 1,200 new warehouse jobs by the end of 2025 as it begins recruitment for its new Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) in Luton. Despite the pandemic, construction began on Lidl’s new 1.2 million sq ft distribution centre in Luton last…
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23 MarchHigh Street
Battersea Power Station welcomes Zara to Electric Boulevard
Zara has been announced as the first brand to open on Electric Boulevard in Battersea Power Station. The new store will span 48,800 sq ft and will be the brand’s first central London store situated south of the river, due to open later this year. Electric Boulevard is a new…
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22 MarchHigh Street
Weather boosts footfall across UK by 2.3%
Footfall rose by +2.3% last week from the week before across all UK retail destinations, with most of the rise driven by high streets where footfall rose by +4.2% versus just +0.5% in shopping centres and +0.1% in retail parks, according to retail experts Springboard. In coastal towns footfall rose…
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16 MarchElectrical
Currys boosts hourly base rate for colleagues
Currys plc has today announced a 5.2% increase to the minimum pay rate of its hourly paid colleagues in the UK to £10 per hour, and £11.05 per hour in London, effective from 1 August 2022. This will result in an hourly rate increase for approximately 10,000 colleagues and any…
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15 MarchClothing & Shoes
Gap opens first UK shop-in-shop on Oxford St with Next
Gap Inc. and Next Plc announced the opening of the first Gap-branded shop-in-shop within Next’s largest West End store on London’s Oxford Street, as part of a new joint venture franchise relationship between the two companies. The venture will also see Next manage Gap’s e-commerce business as well as further…
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11 MarchHigh Street
Sook opens second retail site on South Molton Street
Sook, a pay-by-the-hour adaptable space provider, has opened a second site on South Molton Street, and extended its partnership with central London landlord Grosvenor by three years. Sook initially partnered with Grosvenor in 2020, opening 42 South Molton Street to provide an “affordable, flexible and digitally-connected space for any brand…
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3 MarchComment
Why buying into digital transformation makes good business sense for retailers
It’s an understatement to say that COVID-19 – and the restrictions imposed on businesses as a result of it – have triggered change within the retail sector. Over 15,000 shops and 188,000 retail jobs were lost in the first twelve months of the pandemic, and 2020 has since been confirmed…
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3 MarchEconomy
Footfall strengthens amid largest monthly rise since June
With a gap of -20.7% from the 2019 level, footfall in February strengthened marginally from January when it was -20.8% below 2019, according to Springboard. This was driven by a month on month increase of +9.1% which was the largest single monthly uplift since June 2021 and nearly three times…
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3 MarchHigh Street
Amazon to shutter all bookshops and 4-star stores
Amazon is set to shutter all 68 of its bookshops, 4-star stores and Amazon pop-ups across the US and UK in a bid to further concentrate on its growing grocery offering. Closure dates of the bricks-and-mortar sites will reportedly vary by location and it is currently unknown how many roles…
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1 MarchHigh Street
Footfall rises 11% as weather improves
Footfall rose by +11.1% across all UK retail destinations last week from the week before, when it dropped by -3.8%, according to Springboard. The company said this uplift emanated from a bounce back in footfall on Friday and Saturday when footfall averaged +43.3% higher than the week before, “helped by…
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