Asos: All eyes on pandemic poster child’s turnaround results September 24, 2023 Investors will turn their focus to online retailer Asos’s trading update on Tuesday to see if the digital fashion store has shown signs of a rebound, following its ongoing turnaround plan and bid to pick up the pieces after a post-pandemic lull. Asos was once the poster child of pandemic success, at its height buying [...]
RIP Wilko: How another high street chain went to the wall September 11, 2023 After more than 90 years on the high street, Wilko and all its 400 stores will vanish by early October. Its 12,500 staff were hoping that HMV owner Doug Putman would be able to close a rescue deal that would see several hundred stores saved. But the Canadian entrepreneur abandoned talks with the high street [...]
London tourism revival gets boost as Pocket Planet latest to land in Oxford Street September 5, 2023 Oxford Street’s continued revival has been given another vote of confidence, with the launch of miniature world specialists Pocket Planet as the latest to take up a spot in the West End. Retail leaders have heralded plans to open its 30,000 square foot indoor world as proof of the capital’s investment attractiveness, and big brands’ [...]
IKEA pushes back opening of Oxford Street site August 24, 2023 IKEA is pushing back the date to open its flagship store on Oxford Street, with shoppers forced to hold out an extra 12 months to buy flat pack goods on the iconic London street. Two years ago the Swedish retailer inked a £378m deal to takeover the former Topshop site, after its parent company Arcadia collapsed [...]
Sales surge for Zara owner Inditex as shoppers update summer wardrobe June 7, 2023 Zara owner Inditex reported a 16 per cent uptick in sales in its spring and summer collection, as the fashion giant’s new trends continue to lure in shoppers despite the cost of living crisis. Inditex, which is the world’s biggest fashion retailer, racked in €1.2bn (£1.03bn) in net profit in the first quarter of the [...]
Asos approached in £1bn takeover bid by Turkish fast fashion peer June 4, 2023 A Turkish retailer backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has reportedly offered a £1bn bid to take over Asos, in a fresh knock of confidence for the future of the digital fashion brand. Trendyol, an up-and-coming fast fashion retailer, was understood to have approached Asos in late December, when the brand was facing dwindling sales [...]
Retailers hit with fresh blow as nearly 50 per cent of Brits think the high street is ‘no longer relevant’ May 29, 2023 Nearly half of Brits believe that high streets are no longer relevant, with new data showing that the public is craving a change to their local high street in order to continue visiting it. The data, published by IT company Accenture, comes as retail experts have forecasted that up to 18,000 stores could vanish off [...]
London: Shot in the arm for West End as Uniqlo UK boss says Covent Garden is the place to be April 27, 2023 Fashion chain Uniqlo said it was committed to London after opening its second store in six months. Alessandro Dudech, chief operating officer at Uniqlo UK said the company regarded it as honour to be opening a store in Covent Garden. He said it was an area of London with “cultural and retail heritage”. He added: [...]
Oxford Street on cusp of something really ‘special’, New West End chief says April 23, 2023 Oxford Street is on the cusp of something “really special” and “exciting”, the chief of the New West End company has said, as store development and a boost in international tourism signals a return to better times for London’s most iconic shopping district. Dee Corsi, who oversees operations for the retail strip which spans from [...]
Retail: 40 per cent of high street shops will have to be repurposed or they will ‘wither on the vine’, local leaders warn March 23, 2023 Some 40 per cent of high street shops will have to be repurposed or they will “wither on the vine” as the demand for physical retail dwindles, local leaders have warned. According to a survey by trade body Revo and consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton, as first reported by The Guardian, the need to reinvent retail [...]