Record profits, ambitious takeovers, unprecedented market share – you’d think retail was back in the boom times rather than puffing uphill.

Record profits, ambitious takeovers, unprecedented market share – you’d think retail was back in the boom times rather than puffing uphill.

But Harvey Nichols, Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Waitrose – which respectively clocked up those achievements – have shown adversity can bring opportunity.

Harvey Nics chief executive Joseph Wan expects the department store business he controls to post its best-ever earnings in the year about to end. He puts the performance down to one thing – adaptation.

Back in the dark days of Lehman’s collapse, Wan set about changing the business to put it on the front foot in what he correctly saw would be difficult times to come.

Meanwhile Edinburgh Woollen Mill owner Philip Day has taken advantage of the downturn to expand his business, snapping up troubled chains such as Jane Normanand Peacocks where he sees opportunity in a brand or a complementary business fit.

And Waitrose now speaks for 4.5% of the grocery market – its share has never been so high. Boss Mark Price has shown there is more than one way to skin a cat. Yes, value is a foundation stone of all the big grocers’ propositions, but Waitrose’s success shows that shoppers value high standards of service and product quality too.

All three retailers of course are, in different ways, privately controlled. While the ongoing success of many quoted companies is indisputable, the best privately held retailers have come into their own in this torrid climate.

Unlike some of their public company peers that are often in thrall to the quarterly reporting schedule, the directors of private retailers have had freedom to think long-term and to carry on investing. Their efforts seem to have paid off and they will emerge from bleak times well-positioned for continued growth.

Retail’s real job record

The ‘workfare’ row has continued to dominate the headlines and retailers met employment minister Chris Grayling this week to discuss how to defuse the controversy and move on. We look at retail’s real record on jobs and helping the young into work. The stores industry will never persuade the Socialist Workers Party of its value as an employer, but the facts speak for themselves: 3 million are already employed in retail and opportunity still knocks for the young.