Black Friday UK 2014: John Lewis gears up for weekend shopping frenzy as sales growth slows November 25, 2014 John Lewis said yesterday it was gearing up for this weekend’s shopping frenzy that begins with Black Friday, as sales growth slowed over the past week. Sales in the week ending Saturday 22 November rose to £114.2m, 2.1 per cent up on the same period last year and a five per cent rise on the [...]
Home Retail and TfL take Argos underground at Cannon Street Tube station November 25, 2014 Commuters will now be able to pick up everything from laptops and televisions to furniture as they hop on the Tube after Argos launched its first Underground store yesterday. The retailer’s parent company Home Retail Group has signed a partnership with Transport for London to open a store “the size of a large family kitchen” [...]
England’s brownfield land could make way for 1m homes November 24, 2014 England has enough brownfield land to build more than 1m new homes, with a quarter of it in public hands, according to a leading property consultancy that urges councils to make sites cheaper for housebuilders to buy. The report by Daniel Watney found there were 25,000 acres of suitable brownfield land – land previously used [...]
Investment managers caught up in shopping centre frenzy November 24, 2014 Demand from institutional investors for UK retail assets continued unabated yesterday after M&G and Standard Life separately snapped up shopping centres in Kent and Durham. M&G Real Estate has bought Fremlin Walk in Maidstone from Legal & General Property for £110m. The deal follows its acquisition of Parc Trostre in Wales for £156m this summer. [...]
Derwent buys Angel Square November 24, 2014 Derwent London stepped up its presence to the capital’s fast-growing tech sector after buying Angel Square in Islington for £75.03m. The property developer, which is developing the huge White Collar Factory office scheme at Old Street’s “Silicon” roundabout, said yesterday the three buildings complemented its other assets in the area, including the Angel Building opposite. [...]
Amazon debuts Post Office pick-up service in new deal with Royal Mail November 24, 2014 Shoppers will soon be able to collect products ordered on Amazon at their local Post Office branch in a new deal announced today by the online retail giant and the Royal Mail. Amazon said it has signed up Royal Mail’s Local Collect service, giving its customers the option of collecting goods from any one of [...]
New Look ties up sale of French business MIM to Hong Kong firm Main Asia November 24, 2014 New Look said yesterday it had completed the sale of its French business Mim to Chinese firm Main Asia without disclosing the terms of the deal. Main Asia is a Hong Kong-based company established earlier this year to acquire Mim. Very little is known about the company except that the main shareholders and management are [...]
Home Retail Group sells Homebase in Battersea for £52m to homes developer Fifth Capital London November 24, 2014 The housing market in London’s Nine Elms area is booming. But Home Retail Group has decided to sell its DIY store Homebase in Battersea after receiving a £57m offer for the sought-after site. The retailer said yesterday it had exchanged contracts to sell the huge site on York Road to Fifth Capital London, a little-known [...]
Black Friday to kick off £42bn Christmas spree November 23, 2014 Britons are expected to splurge £42.4bn in the run-up to Christmas – £1.5bn more than last year – as retailers brace themselves for an American-style Black Friday shopping frenzy set to take over their websites and stores this week. Sales are forecast to rise by four per cent year-on-year in the period starting from today [...]
Fitness First will open 30 new clubs in India with £16.4m expansion plans November 23, 2014 Fitness First is to open 30 new clubs in India as part of a £16.4m investment in the region over the next five years. The fitness club operator, led by former InterContinental Hotels chief executive Andy Cosslett, said today that the new openings would take its membership to more than 45,000 customers and create 1,250 [...]
