Retail gloom as festive season fails to save 2024 trading January 7, 2025 High street stores showed anaemic growth in the 2024 festive season, despite hopes that Christmas trading would inject some cheer into the sector. Sales grew just 0.3 per cent overall in the ‘golden quarter’, which includes Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Online sales continued to beat in-store, [...]
Westfield slashes loss ahead of huge funding boost January 6, 2025 The company behind the Westfield shopping centres in London has recorded its lowest pre-tax loss since 2019 despite its turnover being slashed by over 30 per cent. Westfield Europe, which includes sites in Stratford and Croydon, has reported a pre-tax loss of £25.2m for 2023, according to accounts filed late with Companies House. The latest [...]
Not-so-golden quarter: Retail footfall slumps in another disappointing year January 3, 2025 A dull December marked the end of yet another “disappointing” year for UK retail footfall as fresh data has revealed 2024 was the second year in a row to see a decline. According to recent Sensormatic data by the British Retail Consortium, UK footfall fell by 2.5 per cent year-on-year during the three months to December, [...]
Retailers get festive boost as more people head to shops January 2, 2025 There was an increase in the number of people who headed to the shops in December amid fears retailers face uncertain times after the festive season, analysts say. The 7.1 per cent increase in footfall in December from November is the greatest month-on-month rise since an 8.7 per cent jump was recorded in the same [...]
Post-Christmas shopping to rise as bargain-hunters ’emerge’ – analyst December 28, 2024 Post-Christmas shopping is expected to pick up on Friday after data showed there were fewer consumers hitting the high streets for Boxing Day bargains. By midday on Friday, footfall at shops across the country was eight per cent higher than the same day last year, according to retail analysts MRI Software. It follows refreshed figures [...]
Shoe Zone: Firm slams Budget tax hikes as it’s forced to close ‘unviable’ stores December 18, 2024 Shoe Zone has said it has been forced to close “a number” of stores following higher costs announced in the Autumn budget. The affordable footwear company said a combination of lower consumer confidence following the budget, plus “significant additional costs” due to the increases in National Insurance and the National Living Wage, have made the stores [...]
Why Canary Wharf has just topped the list of UK retail destinations December 18, 2024 The phrase ‘London retail’ tends to conjure up images of crowds on Oxford Street, boutiques in Marylebone or Chelsea, maybe a Westfield. Green Street, however, has just rated Canary Wharf as the number one retail destination in not only London, but the UK as a whole. Canary Wharf is certainly having a good year: In [...]
Landsec buys Liverpool One shopping centre for £490m December 17, 2024 Property giant Landsec has bought a controlling stake of 92 per cent in Liverpool’s biggest shopping destination, Liverpool One, as it looks to build its retail portfolio. It bought the stakes of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), which owned 69 per cent, and Grosvenor, which owned 23 per cent, for £490m. The deal has [...]
Black Friday: Retailers look to cash in as early spending surges November 29, 2024 Black Friday spending is up by more than a fifth as Brits look to find deals online and on the high street, according to early data. The discount day last year was the busiest shopping day on record for Nationwide customers, and the lender said by 9am spending was up 21 per cent compared to [...]
Dr Martens swings to the red but shares spike with analysts positive on future growth November 28, 2024 Despite a pre-tax loss from Dr Martens, analysts have remained positive on its future growth prospects as it cuts costs and shakes up its leadership team. The boot-maker told markets this morning that profit before tax swung into the red, with a loss of £28.7m in the 26 weeks ended September 29, from a profit [...]