Soult's Retail View

Discount UK (former Woolworths), Newcastle (4 Nov 2011)

Poundworld-owned variety retailer Discount UK has opened its Newcastle store today, with stilt walkers and free sweets on hand to welcome shoppers to the former Woolworths site.

I dropped by shortly after the store opened at 10am, and it seemed to have got off to a … Continue Reading

Signage at UGO Lundwood (11 Oct 2011)

The emergence of UGO as Britain’s newest discount supermarket chain has been one of the most interesting retail launches of 2011 so far.

Back in January, I reported on Asda’s OFT-instigated divestment of 47 Netto stores, and the news that Haldanes would be … Continue Reading

Tesco in Eger, Hungary (15 Jul 2006)

Today’s release of fairly weak UK trading figures from Tesco – where like-for-like sales, excluding petrol and VAT, fell by 0.5% in the first half of the year – has unsurprisingly prompted much media discussion, both about Tesco specifically and the state of the … Continue Reading

Wellchester's Claire Robertson (8 Sep 2011)

For someone who makes a habit of visiting old Woolworths – and I’ve racked up about 140 so far – there can be few ex-Woolies sites more celebrated than the one in Dorchester (store #403).

The story is well known: … Continue Reading

New BHS, Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

While visiting Swindon’s out-of-town John Lewis at Home, I also managed to spent some time exploring the town centre.

The open-air Parade shopping centre has the distinction of hosting one of the UK’s few (as … Continue Reading

Point-of-sale promotion of the Asda Price Guarantee

Judging from the number of hits – currently 900+, and rising – many of you enjoyed my recent illustrated post about Asda’s Old Fold Road store in Gateshead, following its impressive transformation from a Netto.

While the increase in product lines and instore services … Continue Reading

Outdoor zone, Clas Ohlson, Newcastle (23 Aug 2011)

If the people of Newcastle were still unaware of Clas Ohlson this morning they shouldn’t be by the end of the day. Adding to the billboards and posters that I mentioned a fortnight ago, the Swedish ”modern hardware” retailer’s latest marketing push has included leafletters … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths, South Shields (8 Aug 2011)

The Indian-owned value fashion retailer, Store Twenty One, is to add a fourth North East ex-Woolies site to its estate, taking over the empty portion of the former Woolworths store in South Shields.

Poundland has occupied part of the ex-Woolies building in King … Continue Reading

Clas Ohlson billboard, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

Everything seems to be gearing up nicely for the opening of Newcastle’s Clas Ohlson store, just two weeks today on Wednesday 24 August.

The Northumberland Street store’s hanging signage (below) has now been in place for a week or two, and there seems to be a big … Continue Reading

Signage at UGO store, Eston (4 May 2011)

Since first meeting them at the UGO launch press conference back in January, it’s been a pleasure to develop a really good relationship with the key people at both the … Continue Reading

Ruby Wax and Andy Bond at the Retail London Conference

Greetings to you not from my usual North East, but from my hotel room in London, where I’m reflecting on an intense but inspiring afternoon at the inaugural Retail London conference. I hope to post fuller reflections on the event following tomorrow’s second day, but I’ll try … Continue Reading

Wilkinson, Gateshead (14 Feb 2011)

Given that a significant chunk of Gateshead town centre is currently flattened and awaiting redevelopment, it’s pleasing to see one of the town’s biggest retailers investing in its store.

Along with Tesco, the long-established Wilkinson store in the Interchange Centre is probably the town centre’s … Continue Reading

Trinity Leeds logo (21 Jan 2011)

During my recent visit to Leeds city centre, one of the most visible retail developments was the ongoing construction work for Trinity Leeds, with cranes towering over the adjacent 18th century church that gives the new shopping scheme its name.

After a one-year hiatus caused by … Continue Reading

UGO cake

Following my recent post about Asda’s divestment of 39 surplus Netto stores, I had the pleasure of being invited to my first press conference last Friday, in Leeds. 

Appropriately held just a short distance from Asda’s corporate HQ, the event was organised by Haldanes, the fledgling independent grocer who, as I blogged before, … Continue Reading

Old-style BHS logo, Carlisle (14 Dec 2010)

Back in September 2009, Soult’s Retail View readers seemed to enjoy my exposé of an old-style WHSmith logo at the rear of the branch in Redcar – well over a decade after that logo was supposedly retired.

In November last year, the early … Continue Reading

New and old logos

Last week’s news that the celebrated Wellworths store, in Dorchester, is being forced to change its name by Shop Direct reignites one of the most interesting threads to emerge from Woolworths’ collapse – the battle for the good bits of Woolies’ legacy.

The gist of this latest development is that Shop Direct – who, you’ll remember, bought the Woolworths brand … Continue Reading

Yet Another Sale

This guest post was written by Simon Barnett. Graham has kindly allowed me to write a few words on the subject of discount retailing. I have experience in this area and regularly contribute to a website about online discount codes.

Reading Graham’s post about his visit to Barnard Castle, I was struck by his observations of the discounting approach that’s been taken by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill chain of stores. Like many retailers, it seems … Continue Reading

Screenshot of Fossil UK website (27 Aug 2010)

I was interested to read in Retail Week last week about the accessories and fashion chain Fossil planning to expand its UK store portfolio, but slightly perplexed to note that it “already operates shops in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle [emphasis added], Bristol, Glasgow.”

For someone who … Continue Reading

Cover of 'The Retail Doctor's Guide to Growing Your Business'

This post is something of a first for Soult’s Retail View – a proper book review! Before I talk about the book - which is the The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business, by Bob Phibbs – it’s worth just mentioning how I got to hear about this new title in … Continue Reading

Existing Kingston store

The much-blogged-about Swedish hardware retailer Clas Ohlson published its sales figures for June yesterday.

What’s interesting is that sales for the UK are now being stripped out from those of Finland, giving us a much clearer idea of how the UK business is doing. Total sales were SEK 442m, of which the seven UK stores accounted for SEK 15m. A year ago, the UK business delivered sales … Continue Reading