Essential reading for retailers and suppliers in the home improvement market

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Bunnings Warehouse opens biggest store yet in Greater Manchester

Home improvement and garden retailer Bunnings Warehouse officially opened its doors in Rochdale today (03 January), creating over 80 full and part time jobs.The new store in Sandbrook Park, is the biggest Bunnings Warehouse yet at over 110,000 ... 
3 January 2018

Garden Centre Association lands big names for 52nd annual conference

The GCA has secured former England rugby player Matt Dawson MBE to speak at its annual conference. He will share his team-building and personal commitment expertise with delegates at the event this month, joining entrepreneur Patrick Grant, world-... 
2 January 2018

Bunnings opens smaller format store in Bicester

Home improvement and garden retailer Bunnings officially opened its doors in Bicester on the 21st of December 2017.On the site of the former Homebase on Launton Road, the new smaller format store is 36,700 square feet, which is approximately half ... 
2 January 2018

Footfall continues to drop, with an unexpected -10.5% YOY drop seen on New Year’s Eve

According to the latest data from retail experts Springboard footfall dropped significantly on New Year's Eve across the UK, declining by -10.5% over the 24 hours and by -7.2% between 7pm and midnight. This poor performance follows drops in footfall ... 
2 January 2018

Duff & Phelps secures sale of Feather & Black Limited

Hilding Anders International, one of the leading bedding and mattress companies globally, buys the majority of the business securing 104 UK jobs.Allan Graham and Matt Ingram, both of Duff & Phelps Ltd, Joint Administrators of Feather & Black ... 
19 December 2017

Double digit growth for builders' merchants

Builders’ Merchants saw major increases in sales of Tools (+12.3%), Plumbing Heating & Electrical (+11.4%) and Heavy Building Materials (+11.1%) in October 2017. These categories all saw double digit growth compared to October 2016 (assisted by ... 
19 December 2017

Garden Re-Leaf 2018 registration is now open

Following a fantastic Garden Re-Leaf Day this year, Greenfingers Charity has announced that 2018’s event will take place on Friday, March 16.New events have been planned and the campaign promises to be even bigger next year, although organisers are ... 
19 December 2017

BREAKING NEWS: EU commission opens "in-depth investigation" into IKEA's taxes

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into the Netherlands' tax treatment of Inter IKEA, one of the two groups operating the IKEA business.The Commission has concerns that two Dutch tax rulings may have allowed Inter IKEA to ... 
18 December 2017

Trade park creates new jobs in Royston

A new Trade Park on Royston industrial estate has created a number of new jobs for local residents, thanks to investment from builders’ merchant Jewson.The Royston Trade Park will now serve as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for building, plumbing, heating and ... 
15 December 2017

EXCLUSIVE: A smaller-format Bunnings and its smallest Warehouse yet set to open

The Wesfarmers-owned group will open a new Bunnings store on the site of former Homebase branches in Bicester and its smallest Bunnings Warehouse yet in Walton on Thames ... 
15 December 2017

Entrepreneur and sewing bee judge backs creativity at GCA conference

The entrepreneur made famous for his role as a judge on BBC’s ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’ is speaking at the Garden Centre Association’s 2018 conference.As well as appearing on TV, and despite having no fashion experience and being an engineer by ... 
15 December 2017

2018 DIY Week Awards judging panels announced

We can officially revealed the two judging panels for the 2018 DIY Week Awards, which take place on Friday, May 11 at the Park Plaza Victoria in London.Judging the supplier categories will be: Judging the retail categories... 
15 December 2017

Bunnings Warehouse opens its first store in South Yorkshire

Home improvement and garden retailer Bunnings Warehouse officially opened its doors in Rotherham today (14 December).The new store is located on Parkgate, is over 70,000 square feet offers customers more than 30,000 leading home improvement and ... 
14 December 2017

Rapid online growth for home improvement products, while DIY stores retain a strong position

Research from the USP Marketing Consultancy has shown that the purchase channel most often used by European consumers is the DIY store, and the share of online shops has risen considerably. That is one of the results of the Q3 report from the ... 
13 December 2017

Bunnings opens 11th store in Basingstoke

Home improvement and garden retailer Bunnings Warehouse officially opened its doors in Basingstoke today (13 December).The new store, which is on the site of the former Homebase on Winchester Road, is 84,500 square feet and offers customers more ... 
13 December 2017

Lucrative pet category to give retailers a boost this Christmas

New figures suggest animal lovers will spend more on their pets than their nearest and dearest over the festive season.A survey found that owners will be spending an average of £19.98 on their pets compared to just £14.78 on their best friends.While ... 
12 December 2017

Black Friday failed to lift consumer spending in November

Latest UK consumer spending index data from Visa, compiled by finance data company Markit, has indicated that consumer spending declined for the third month running in November. On an annual basis, total expenditure fell by -0.9%, which was less ... 
11 December 2017

Home Hardware Scotland holds first ever Christmas window display competition

Home Hardware Scotland held its first ever Christmas window competition for its members shops and were "delighted with the response and the high level of entries". The entries were put to a vote to the office staff at Home Hardware and the winner ... 
11 December 2017

Retail park giant Hammerson to acquire rival Intu

Hammerson plc, which operates 17 UK retail parks, as well as shopping centres and outlets across the UK and Europe has made an all-share offer to acquire Intu, with a view to create a £21billion pan-European portfolio.The boards of the two companies ... 
8 December 2017

Plans for new Lidl and B&M stores in Crewe

Plans have been submitted to build a new Lidl supermarket, B&M home store and garden centre in Crewe.Clowes Developments (North West) has lodged a hybrid planning application with Cheshire East Council to transform an 8.9-acre site between Mill ... 
7 December 2017
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