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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

High percentage of consumers make unplanned purchases at discount stores

In a recent survey, 75% of consumers said they had made an unexpected impulse purchase including tools and kitchen products - when shopping at a discount retailer.  Retail consultancy Newton, which published the research conducted across 2,000 UK ... 
10 August 2017

Homewares sales make a comeback in July

While the non-food category saw declines during the four-week period, homeware retailers were a “success story”, says the British Retail Consortium in its latest retail sales monitor. Figures reported in the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for the four ... 
10 August 2017

Physical stores drive online growth

New research revealing a symbiotic relationship between a brand’s physical stores and its ecommerce platform has been published by British Land.Using data from Connexity Hitwise, the research, shows that when a new store opens, traffic to the ... 
9 August 2017

Travis Perkins wins military recruitment award

Travis Perkins has been recognised for their work supporting the Armed Forces with a Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Silver award. The accolade is awarded to companies that are making a demonstrable effort to support, recruit and develop ... 
9 August 2017

DFS acquires Sofology

Furniture retailer DFS has exchanged contracts to acquire Sofology for an initial enterprise value of £25m on a debt-free, cash-free basis payable upon completion. In addition, further payments could be made approximately 12 months following ... 
7 August 2017

Further decline in consumer spend on household goods

Visa's UK CSI data signalled a further decline in household expenditure at the start of the third quarter. Compared to the same month a year ago, spending fell -0.8% in July which was slightly faster than seen in June (-0.2%). Moreover, spending has ... 
7 August 2017

Tesco scraps 5p carrier bags in favour of ‘Bag for Life’

Tesco has today announced that from August 28, it will no longer make single-use carrier bags available to customers, replacing them instead with a new 10p ‘Bag for Life’ made from 94% recycled plastic. The announcement follows a successful 10-week ... 
7 August 2017

Australian housewares chain sets its sights on UK

Australian housewares chain House, which is owned by Global Retail Brands, is preparing to move into the UK market next year. Global Retail Brands aims to open its first tranche of House stores by April 2018, with a total of 75 stores planned within ... 
7 August 2017

Further disruption to Argos distribution network, as workers gear up to strike

Argos customers could see a delay of three weeks for their orders, as more than 1,000 warehouse staff get set to strike over an ongoing redundancy payments row. The UK catalogue retailer is faced with three weeks of strikes across its distribution ... 
4 August 2017

B&M targets convenience sector with acquisition

B&M has announced a takeover of Heron Foods, a discount convenience retailer operating predominantly in the North of England with 251 storesThe deal was done by B&M’s subsidiary, EV Retail Limited, for £152 million, including the debt ... 
3 August 2017

ASA agrees Oak Furnitureland’s claims are solid

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has revoked its decision to ban Oak Furnitureland from using its ‘100% solid hardwood’ and ‘no veneer in ’ere’ phrasing in advertising.The decision comes after a 12-month independent review of the case ... 
2 August 2017

Travis Perkins reports revenue up, profits down

Travis Perkins has reported a rise in revenue but reduced profits for the first half of its financial year.The company said its revenue grew by 3.5%to £3.2bn for the six months to June 30 while pre-tax profits fell by 4.5% to £168m. Adjusted ... 
2 August 2017

John Lewis again reports increase in home sales

John Lewis has reported home sales were up 7.7% for week ending July 29, 2017 on the same week last year. The company said customers were investing in their bedrooms with sales in bed linen up 19.2% and beds and bedroom up 17.5%, driven by the last ... 
1 August 2017

Poundland launches its first summer sale

Poundland has launched its first summer sale, cutting the price of thousands of product lines to 50p.At the start of the year the company said said it would continue to sell the majority of items at a £1 but would introduce added value with simple ... 
1 August 2017

Retailers must embrace contactless payment, according to Barclaycard study

The continued surge of ‘touch and go’ payments is set to save UK shoppers 141 million hours, worth almost a billion pounds in time, by 2021 according to a new study from Barclaycard.Ahead of the 10th anniversary of contactless payments next month, ... 
1 August 2017
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