Essential reading for retailers and suppliers in the home improvement market

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New Café Bar to open at Squire’s in Shepperton

Squire’s Garden Centre in Shepperton has unveiled plans to open a new Café Bar in early October.It will have new Raffles style décor, flooring, seating and lighting. There will be distinct seating areas to choose from including the main Café Bar, a ... 
25 August 2017

New Bunnings Warehouse to create 25 jobs in Harlow, Essex

Home improvement and garden retailer, Bunnings Warehouse, has announced plans to open a new store in Harlow later this year, creating more than 25 new full and part-time jobs.Bunnings, retailer of home improvement and outdoor living products in ... 
25 August 2017

Online sales increase against some poor in-store results

Recent figures have revealed that bad weather and continued economy uncertainty has hit summer sales. Not only this, but shoppers have been heading online to seek out better discounts and deals.The IMRG Capgemini Sales Index for August shows that UK ... 
25 August 2017

Trago Mills opens £3.5 million Build Centre

The eagerly-awaited new £3.5m ‘Build Centre’ opened at Trago’s landmark Newton Abbot site last month.The Trago Build Centre is a purpose-built stand-alone retail facility, adjacent to the main store and comprises 2,088 square meters (22,475 square ... 
24 August 2017

Asda parent introduces voice-shopping technology

US retailer Walmart is teaming up with Google to enter the voice-shopping market, which is currently dominated by pure-play giant Amazon. From September, consumers in the US will be able to buy Walmart products using a voice-activated Google ... 
23 August 2017

Petersham Nurseries opens second site in Covent Garden

Petersham Nurseries has opened its doors on King Street in Covent Garden, bringing nature and elegance to the heart of London with a lifestyle, home and garden shop, delicatessen, wine cellar and florist; two restaurants and a bar will follow.... 
22 August 2017

Akzo works to ‘normalise’ its relationship with shareholders

Akzo works to ‘normalise’ its relationship with shareholders. Dulux parent, Akzo Nobel announced it has had a recent “constructive dialogue” with affiliates of Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited (collectively "Elliott") and reached an agreement with the ... 
22 August 2017

Eight of top 10 top garden centres say no to bee-harming pesticides

Eight of the top 10 leading garden retailers and garden centres don’t want the flowering plants they sell to be grown with bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides and have told suppliers not to use them, a Friends of the Earth survey reveals today. ... 
22 August 2017

Glee boasts “strongest pet contingent for many years”

Garden retailers and pet buyers will be spoilt for choice, says the show’s organisers, with a host of UK and international exhibitors lined up for Glee 2017, along with a newly-launched Buyer Connect event and news that the Petquip Business Village ... 
21 August 2017

Travis Perkins uses Google Cloud to improve customer experience

Travis Perkins, building materials supplier to construction and home improvement supply stores such as Wickes and Benchmarx, is utilising Talend and Google Cloud Platform to increase data quality, consistency and business agility across multiple ... 
21 August 2017

Johnson’s Ironmongers closes

Johnson’s Ironmongers in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, has closed down. Philip Johnson, who was the fourth generation of the Johnson family to run the shop, had owned the business since 1952, but died in January at the age of 88, and the family decided ... 
17 August 2017

Screwfix powers ahead in Q2, while B&Q sales hit by seasonal losses

Kingfisher’s results for the second quarter revealed like-for-like sales up 10.8% at Screwfix, boosted by new stores and digital capabilities, while B&Q revenues were impacted by store closures and a dip in seasonal sales.Total sales for ... 
17 August 2017

‘Repositioning of business’ hits Bunnings pre-tax profits

Bunnings reported a £54 million ($89 million) loss before interest and tax for its first full financial year of trading its UK and Ireland business since the acquisition of Homebase, as the retailer counts the cost of new store openings and walking ... 
17 August 2017

Ideabright Ltd in administration

Hardware retailer and parent company of Dibranto, Posh Rosh, and Clean Up brands has appointed administrators this week after struggling with “very tough trading”, the company says.Ideabright, which has its head office in Chessington Surrey, ... 
16 August 2017

Tool Shop expands with two new locations

Independent hardware chain secures two new London units – in Camden and Islington – and reveals plans to grow the business further with new acquisitions in coming months.The Tool Shop Group today confirmed that it was adding two further branches to ... 
14 August 2017

Screwfix to open fourth Glasgow store

Screwfix is set to open its fourth store in Glasgow on Thursday, 24 August at Anniesland Business Park, creating 14 new jobs in the area.“We’ve created 14 new jobs and employed people from around the Glasgow area,” said store manager Andrew Doak. “... 
14 August 2017

Axe swings at Wilko

Wilko has started redundancy consultations with nearly 4,000 staff members as it reorganises its business across its more than 400 stores in the UK.Around 1,000 senior supervisory roles and a "significant amount" of customer service posts will be ... 
14 August 2017

Bunnings heads to Weston-super-Mare for ninth location

Bunnings confirms it will open its ninth Warehouse store in Worle later this year, taking over the site of the Homebase on Bristol Road. The new store is approximately 76,000sq ft and will employ an additional 20 full and part-time team members, ... 
11 August 2017

Plant disease poses threat to UK horticulture industry

One of the most harmful bacterial plant diseases in the world, Xylella fastidiosa could pose a huge risk to the UK industry and the Horticultural Trades Association is warning that businesses must make sure they only buy host plants from trusted ... 
11 August 2017

B&M opens new store with garden centre in Doncaster  

The latest new B&M Home store opened in Thorne this week, complete with a large 5,842sq ft garden centre.It's the latest addition to the stores in the South Yorkshire region and has created more than 50 jobs. The new Home store, managed by Nick ... 
11 August 2017
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