With Michael Gove committed to supporting a ban on use of neonicotinoids, ManoMano’s decision to ban ‘toxic pesticides’, Friends of the Earth (FOE) issuing more than 18,000 letters to Homebase regarding their use in the pesticides they sell, many ...

Knowsley Business Awards recognised Walton Flooring Centre as Retailer of the Year at their annual awards ceremony on 23rd November, just six weeks after they received the same accolade from Merseyside Independent Business Awards. This has been "...

For a third consecutive month, shop prices decreased at an annual rate of 0.1% in November. This is the shallowest deflation rate in the last four years.Non-food price deflation eased in November to 1.1% from 1.5% in October. This is the lowest ...

The winners of the British Coatings Federation (BCF) Awards 2017 were announced on 23 November at the annual BCF Awards in Cheshire, across eight categories showcasing brilliance in the coatings industry. 2017 saw the addition of two new Awards, ...

Tile specialists Topps Tiles Plc, announced its annual financial results for the 52 weeks ended 30 September 2017 today, reporting a loss of 1.5% in group revenue since the 52 weeks ended 1 October 2016, from £215.0 million to this year's £211.8 ...

Independent garden centres are celebrating after bagging GCA display awards, with Bents Garden & Home winning the 2017 title of Best Christmas Display in the Country, and Perrywood Garden Centre winning in its regional heat.Warrington-based ...

The resurgence of houseplants within the younger generation has seen an upward trend in the category amongst Garden Centre Association (GCA) members. According to the GCA’s Barometer of Trade (BoT) report for October 2017, sales of houseplants were ...

Homebase has begun offering a brand price match gaurantee to help ensure the company's "prices are competitive", and if you have purchased a branded item from Homebase and find the identical branded product in stock and cheaper elsewhere then the ...

A partnership between Akzo Nobel and SOS Children's Villages designed to help fight youth unemployment - through education and renovation training programs - is being expanded to include six new countries.After joining forces earlier this year, the ...

The hopes and concerns of the garden industry post-Brexit were made clear to Westminster representatives at a Select Committee Inquiry on 15 November, and to 19 parliamentarians at a very successful joint dinner, held by the APPGHG and EFRA Select ...

Following Chancellor Philip Hammond’s budget statement, responses have been made regarding various key points that will impact the DIY retail industry.In brief, living wage is up to £7.83 an hour from £7.50, £3billion set aside for Brexit ...

Dutch coatings firm Akzo Nobel has confirmed today that it has ended discussions with Axalta.On October 30, Akzo responded to speculation in the market and confirmed it was in “constructive discussions” regarding a potential merger of the Akzo Nobel ...

Turnover has increased to more than £750m at The Range as the discount retailer continues to expand with new store openings.The company recently secured planning consent for a superstore and new headquarters in Plymouth, the site of its first outlet....

Tile Giant has appointed Premier Logistics Group to manage its store delivery operation. The three-year contract will see Premier Logistics delivering stock to Tile Giant’s UK stores on a daily basis, utilising specialist trailers bearing the ...

Kingfisher has reported a 0.5% fall in group like-for-like sales for the three months to October 31. Although that was an improvement on a second quarter fall of 1.9% there was a small fall in underlying third quarter sales as a weak performance in ...

VARTA Consumer Batteries is launching a £1 million Christmas campaign, an investment that will see the challenger brand reach a UK audience of 22 million* this festive season.The campaign, led by a TV advert, which will air for the first time on 22 ...

DFS has been cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to acquire Sofology for £25m.The deal to acquire the Warrington-based sofa specialist with a network of 37 stores, was struck in August.The CMA opened an investigation and invited ...

Earlier this week Friends of the Earth presented a petition to Homebase with over 18,000 signatures urging the store not to sell flowering plants grown with three neonicotinoid pesticides.Homebase, has since released a statement and promises to ...

Speaking at this year’s Lux Live lighting show, RecoLight’s Nigel Harvey urged the industry to respond to the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations, with an onus on tackling ...

THE 20 finalists in the Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) Ruxley Rose competition have recently (November, 2017) been judged and there is strong evidence of continued enthusiasm for selling plants at member centres.The two winners, judged to have ...

British retailers have been told to be wary of the “dark side of Black Friday”, as the authorities continue to ramp up their attempts to bring counterfeiters to justice. The global counterfeit goods industry is said to be worth nearly £380 billion a ...

The new autumn/winter season saw garden centre customers stocking up on warm clothing and accessories during September, according to the Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) Barometer of Trade (BoT) report. Total sales in clothing departments across GCA ...

Local shoppers were out in force today when Wilko opened its doors at Fort Kinnaird Shopping Centre, Edinburgh. Queues outside the new store started forming at 6.30am with more than 300 shoppers keen to get a first look at the new Wilko store.The ...

Buyers from a specialist German online retailer and mail order company that specialises in British products, as well as garden distributors from Germany and Romania (each with an online presence too) will be travelling to the UK on 30 November 2017 ...

The relocation of B&M's Newport store at East Retail Park has been completed, opening to the public today, Wednesday, 15 November. The store opening comes as a boost to the local economy with an increase in the number of employees by 60....

Online tile retailer, Tile Trader, has launched a nationwide initiative called “Tiling for a Good Cause” and is urging members of the public to nominate a space in their local area in need of a tiling makeover.The initiative is designed to give one ...

Family-run retailer reveals that current seven sites will reduce to four over an 18 month period in a bid to create “a more efficient and focused business”.Taskers the home store, the Merseyside-based store group, will be closing its two smaller ...

B&M has announced its interim results for the 26 weeks to 23 September 2017. Group revenues increased by +21.7% to £1,346.4m, +21.0% at constant currency while like­for­like revenues increased by +7.5%, including growth of +7.7% in the second ...

Giant Friends of the Earth bees visited a Homebase store in Wandsworth yesterday (Monday 13 November) to hand in a petition from over 18,000 people urging the store not to sell flowering plants grown with three neonicotinoid pesticides. The ...

IKEA says 15% of its UK sales now take place online, after a year in which internet sales increased by 10%. The homeware company today announced total UK sales of £1.8bn in the year to August 31 2017, up by 5.8% on the same time last year.IKEA UK ...

Wilko opens a new branch at Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh this Wednesday at 9am and a representative from Children’s Hospice Association Scotland cut the ceremonial ribbon along with Wilko Fort Kinnaird store manager Charlotte Connell.A host of prizes ...

Shopper footfall across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres is set to dip -0.6% on Black Friday for first time in four years, as consumers feel the pinch.Retail intelligence experts Springboard today forecast that year-on-year footfall ...

The sofa specialist is celebrating its 40th store location, as it opens its doors in Farnborough for the first time today.The new store, which is located at Horizon Shopping Park, is the fifth of six new openings this year following York, Wednesbury,...

With entry now in full swing, don’t miss out on the opportunity to get the recognition your company, team or product deserves.For retail businesses, there are seven categories that can shine a light on your stand-out business and colleagues, as well ...

Today environment secretary Michael Gove announced that the UK will back a total ban on insect-harming pesticides in fields across Europe – a decision that Friends of the Earth welcomed, while online DIY and garden retailer ManoMano revealed it will ...

The brand new event, targeting consumer and trade press across the home improvement sector, is set to take place in London on February 21 next year.‘What’s new in Home Improvement’ is being brought to the industry by Insight DIY and Media-Events, ...

QVC UK has again been rewarded for its customer service, winning the Multi-Channel Award at the 2017 Top 50 Companies for Customer Service Awards In addition, it was first overall for Social Media in Retail, second for Customer Experience on Calls ...

The Irish DIY chain reported a 9.1% uplift in revenue for the four months ended October 31, as it continued the revamp of its store portfolio and consumer spending increased.Woodie’s, part of Graft Group’s retailing division, which accounts for 6% ...

The UK’s second largest supermarket chain reported an underlying profit before tax of £251 million which saw a loss of 9% as wage cost inflation and consolidation of Argos H1 losses took its toll, as well as the company being partly offset by ...

High Street giant M&S reported a decrease in like-for-like revenue by 0.7% in Clothing & Home today in the company's half year results, also reporting 0% change in Clothing & Home revenue from October 1 to 2016 to September 30 2017. Full ...

Dunelm is closing its store in Hinckley, Leicestershire in January 2018 over concerns the site is too small.A spokesman for Dunelm said: “We continually review our store estate to ensure that we have the right size stores in the best locations, to ...

In October, UK retail sales decreased by 1.0% on a like-for-like basis from October 2016 when they had increased 1.7% from the preceding year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) KPMG sales monitor for the period covering October 1-28, ...

The beginning of November has signalled an abrupt end to Halloween and offered a warm welcome to Christmas and winter campaigns across the DIY industry. The latest of these come from catalogue retailer Argos, electrical retailer Currys PC World and ...

Continuing its successful programme of Buyer Connect events, the Garden Industry Manufacturers Association (GIMA) has teamed up with Longacres – the UK’s largest independent garden centre – to hold a special speed networking event with the buying ...

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) believes the rate increase - the first since July 2007 – of up to 5%, means the Chancellor needs to deliver a new budget for shoppers.BRC head of retail insight & analytics Rachel Lund said today: “While the ...

As the Bank of England announces it is putting interest rates up for the first time in 10 years of between 0.25% and 5%, speculation and predictions have been rife over what impact this will have on the housing market.Although not a huge increase, ...

Retailers should capitalise on a prolonged period of ‘fireworks frenzy’ this month, as shoppers scramble to kit out their homes and gardens for the celebrations this year,According to new data from Ebay, searches for ‘blanket’, ‘candle’ and ‘...

Homebase bosses have confirmed that the Meols Cop branch will close just weeks before Christmas. The store is being closed down to make way for a new Sainsburys superstore which is planned to be built on the same site. In order for that store, which ...

Home improvement and garden retailer Bunnings has opened its 10th UK Warehouse store, taking over the former Homebase outlet on Edinburgh Way in Harlow today.The new opening has created over 25 full and part time jobs at the 78,000sq ft store, ...

Travis Perkins has selected Riverbed SteelCentral Aternity to increase end-user visibility, improving customer service and enhancing colleague productivity. Since deployment, the monitoring solution has significantly reduced the average time it ...