In the news this week… Retail Round-up

Including amount spent at value retailers hitting almost £5 billion per year.

The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.

New data from Nielsen has shown that the amount spent at value retailers – including Poundland, B&M and Home Bargains – has hit a new high of over £4.9 billion per year, up 17% on the previous year. Around 78% of British households have now shopped in value stores, with 52% saying that have shopped in Poundland. The most popular products at value retailers are household, packaged grocery, confectionery and healthy and beauty, accounting for 63% of sales.

Despite the closure of its Oxford Street outlet after less than a year of trading, The Toy Store is said to be moving on with plans to open up to six UK stores. Chief financial officer Mark Handley told Retail Week that the retailer was looking at “key larger shopping mall destinations across the UK”.

Staying with toy retailers, and the opening of The Entertainer’s first store in Northern Ireland proved to be a success. The Belfast outlet officially opened its doors on August 13.

Amazon has set its sights on opening three more physical book stores in the US – in Chicago, San Diego and Portland. The first Amazon Books opened in Seattle last year.

John Lewis is to recruit over 3,500 temporary staff across a number of departments to help it cope with the demand over Christmas.

Meanwhile, the department store chain saw its total sales increase 1.3% for the week to August 20, up to £72.9 million. Audio and connected home products remained popular (up 15.7% year on year), while beauty also had a strong week (+5.1%). Fashion sales grew 1.2%, with home sales edging up 0.7%.

The remaining 22 BHS stores will close this weekend, meaning that the retailer will officially disappear from the high street. The flagship Oxford Street outlet has already closed.

Debenhams’ Irish business is out of examinership after the High Court approved a restructuring plan for the retailer. The move will save 1,330 jobs.

Tesco has launched a same-day click and collect service at almost 300 of its stores. Shoppers will be able to collect any orders placed before 1pm from their local store at 4pm. They will be charged £2 for a two-hour collection slot from Monday to Thursday, and £3 for slots on Friday and Saturday. However, the service will not be available on Sundays.

Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter.

MORE NEWS
TheWiggles500x500
 
Following a strong upturn in business performance - including new strategic partnerships and internal team advancements - the group continues to build momentum across Australia and global markets....
JackHendyRHS500x500
 
We find out more about Royal Horticultural Society's licensing development executive....
SamBillinghurstBrown500x500
 
We find out more about Retail Monster's licensing and retail associate....
NatGalleriesScotlandLOGIC500x500
 
Based in Tokyo, LOGIC designs and sells apparel and accessories throughout Japan, China and Taiwan in stores such as United Arrows, Beams and Urban Research....
B&LLAs2025500x500
 
The event will take place on Thursday 24 April at the Royal Lancaster London, where the assembled audience of retailers, licensees, brand owners and industry executives will celebrate the achievements of the 219 finalists across 22 categories, as well as witnessing the crowning of this year's Brand Ambassador....
BeanstalkJuliusK9500x500
 
Beanstalk will look to leverage JULIUS-K9's strong brand equity to extend its offering into key categories across the UK and Europe including pet food, vitamins, bedding, cages and travel products....
Get the latest news sent to your inbox
Subscribe to our daily newsletter

The list doesn't exist! Make sure you have imported the list on the 'Manage List Forms' page.