News: Retail stores and property
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NewsSainsbury’s to slash 500 head office roles and close distribution centre
Sainsbury’s is set to cut 500 roles at its London head office and close one of its London fulfilment centres in a bid to reinvest in its new ‘food first’ agenda.
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Budget: Business rates holiday extended and new recovery grants revealed
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has extended the business rates holiday for a further three months and will offer non-essential retailers new recovery grants of up to £6,000 per store.
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Aldi to invest £22m on new and revamped London stores
Discounter Aldi is investing £22m in acquiring new stores and refurbishing existing ones in the Greater London area this year.
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Chancellor to extend furlough scheme until September
The chancellor is expected to use today’s Budget to extend the furlough scheme through to the end of September.
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Shop prices fall in February as consumers limit spending in lockdown
Shop prices continued to fall in February, reaching the lowest rate of deflation since May 2020.
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Hotel Chocolat’s digital offer in strong position ahead of crucial Easter trading
Hotel Chocolat boss Angus Thirlwell says the retailer’s digital push during the pandemic has left it in a much stronger position heading into the crucial Easter trading period than last year.
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Halfords to repay furlough cash as cycling sales soar
Halfords is set to pay back its furlough payments in full as trading so far this year has been “stronger than initially anticipated across the business”.
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Morrisons extends deal with McColl’s as conversion plans ramp up
Morrisons has extended a wholesale partnership with convenience store group McColl’s, which will convert more of its stores to the Morrisons Daily format.
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Amazon Go to open first UK store this week
Amazon will open its first in a tranche of contactless grocery stores in the UK this week.
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John Lewis plots ‘hundreds’ of shop-in-shops inside Waitrose stores
John Lewis plans to launch hundreds of shop-in-shops inside Waitrose stores and is also plotting a smaller “local” format as part of a radical overhaul of its portfolio.
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Primark positive over plans for April 12 reopening with 'worst behind us'
Primark finance boss John Bason has said the retailer believes it is “more than likely” it will reopen stores on April 12.
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Non-essential retail to open on April 12 if Covid conditions met
Non-essential retailers will be allowed to reopen shops in April, alongside gyms, hairdressers and outdoor hospitality, if strict conditions are met, according to plans set out by the prime minister.
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M&S boss Rowe hits out at ‘unbearable’ business rates burden
Marks Spencer boss Steve Rowe has warned that the “unbearable yoke” of business rates will spark thousands more job losses unless the tax is overhauled by the government.
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John Lewis plots further store closures as Covid crisis bites
John Lewis is planning a fresh round of store closures as the impact of the coronavirus crisis on physical retail deepens.
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Oxford Street plans climbable hill to lure shoppers back to district
Westminster City Council has unveiled plans to build a 25-metre tall climbable hill overlooking Marble Arch in a bid to lure shoppers back to Oxford Street once lockdown ends.
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Arcadia property sales raise hopes for retailer’s pensioners
Pensioners at Sir Philip Green’s collapsed Arcadia fashion empire may receive more from their savings than originally feared, following property disposals.
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Burberry becomes first non-essential retailer to return business rates relief
Luxury fashion giant Burberry is to voluntarily hand back savings made through business rates relief during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Alarm sounded over hit to high streets from residential developments
Relaxed rules on the conversion of commercial property to housing could threaten the health of town centres, the government has been warned.
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January retail sales slide as shoppers cut back non-essential spending
January retail sales registered the sharpest decline since last May as customers reined in spending and lockdown hammered store sales.
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Retail bosses demand business rates reform and online sales tax
Bosses from 18 retailers have called on chancellor Rishi Sunak to permanently cut business rates in a bid to save the high street.
