Soon-to-be Wetherspoon’s (former Woolworths), Blairgowrie (11 May 2013)

If you like looking at shops and high streets, going on holiday to north west Sutherland, in Scotland – as I did earlier this month – isn’t necessarily the best choice.

The scenery is incredible, of course, but Spars and Costcutters are about as exciting as it gets retail-wise. For someone used to living in a city, the idea of the nearest proper high street and food superstore being an hour and a half away in Ullapool takes a bit of getting used to. Still, as you’d expect, I at least managed to work some ex-Woolworths sightseeing into my journey there and back.

Former Woolworths, Inverness – prior to Poundland moving in (1 May 2010)

First stop was the city of Inverness, which I last visited three years ago. At that time, the large 11,584 sq ft former Woolies store at 13-15 High Street (store #233) was still vacant following the chain’s collapse. Previously, Woolworths had traded there since 11 September 1926, with the property undergoing a ‘reskinning’ in 1964.

Thriving value chain Poundland moved in shortly afterwards, and is still trading there now, though the retained black granite stall riser and white-tiled surround ensure that the building’s Woolworths heritage is still easy to spot.

Poundland (former Woolworths), Inverness (4 May 2013)

On the way back south again, I also stopped at the attractive (but rainy) town of Dingwall, where Woolworths opened store #1076 at 70-71 High Street on 14 June 1963.

The Original Factory Shop (former Woolworths), Dingwall (11 May 2013)

As in many other smaller towns across the UK, that 4,090 sq ft property – vacated following Woolies’ 2008 administration – has been taken by the discount department store The Original Factory Shop, though the retained shopfront again makes its Woolworths history obvious.

The Original Factory Shop (former Woolworths), Dingwall (11 May 2013)

Recent investment in the town’s public realm has ensured that Dingwall High Street looks attractive, and the welcome signs (below) at each of the main car parks – accompanied by clearly marked routes into the town centre – are a nice and useful touch.

However, while the town boasts many interesting independents, such as the mini-department store Cormacks & Crawfords, the departure of Au Naturale – Ethel Austin’s collapsed sister chain – from the redeveloped ex-Somerfield unit in 2010 continues to leave a big hole.

Welcome sign in Dingwall town centre (11 May 2013)

Down the road in Perthshire, the ex-Ethel Austin in my next destination of Blairgowrie has fared better, thanks again to The Original Factory Shop moving in. The former Peacocks store next door – victim of that chain’s collapse in 2012 – remains vacant, however.

Interestingly, not long after Woolworths’ demise, the Original Factory Shop first tried to enter Blairgowrie by taking the town’s 3,974 sq ft ex-Woolies unit at 25-29 Allan Street, but pulled out due to “buillding issues”.

After a stint as an independent pound shop, Poundsworth, the property – which opened as Woolworths store #1098 on 28 August 1964 – is currently in the process of being converted into a Wetherspoon pub, The Fair O’Blair, which is due to open on 11 June. Despite the extensive makeover that’s ongoing, it too looks like it’s going to retain its white Woolworths-era tiles.

Soon-to-be Wetherspoon’s (former Woolworths), Blairgowrie (11 May 2013)

So, three former Woolies sites in Scotland that have all kept some of the visual clues to their retail past – and, in the case of Blairgowrie, another one to add to my collection of ex-Woolworths that are now Wetherspoons, next time I’m up that way…

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including coverage of ex-Woolworths locations nationwide. It also works with retailers to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

West Street frontage of Trinity Square (17 May 2013)

With just four days to go before the Tesco-anchored retail portion of Trinity Square opens (on Thursday 23 May), Gateshead shoppers are getting their first glimpses of signage and shopfit works, while the site as a whole remains a hive of activity. Alongside, the confirmed tenant list continues to evolve.

Since my previous blog in April, the lettings I mentioned there – to Sports Direct, CeX, Subway and Poundland – have all now been confirmed, joining the four that were announced early on: Greggs, Ladbrokes, Phones4u and Costa. In addition, the updated Trinity Square letting plan has revealed that the pawnbroker Albemarle Bond is also signed up, most likely relocating from its existing premises in the High Street’s historic Burton building.

Letting plan from Trinity Square website, with let units in dark blue (19 May 2013)

Though not yet confirmed, Boots and at least one bank – thought to be Lloyds TSB – are also believed to be taking space in the scheme. An April update of the letting plan also showed Frankie & Benny’s and Supernews as confirmed for units facing West Street, though these have both now been deleted and reverted to ‘under negotiation’.

Meanwhile, it’s positive to see two local independent businesses – the old-fashioned sweet shop Moffee’s, and Anzacs Hair & Beauty – confirmed as taking two of the units facing High Street, beneath the 103,000 sq ft Tesco Extra store. I believe Moffee’s currently trades from the Gateshead suburb of Low Fell, while Anzacs seems set to relocate from its existing High Street premises above Albemarle Bond.

Overall, the online letting plan now shows 14 confirmed lettings (including Tesco and Vue Cinemas, and Poundland and Sports Direct each taking what had originally been earmarked as three separate units), a further 12 units in negotiations (shown in orange on the plan), and 11 available (pale blue). It seems likely that the pace of lettings will pick up further once the scheme is open and prospective tenants can see how it’s performing.

Countdown to Tesco opening (17 May 2013)

Tesco Extra signage at entrance to Trinity Square car park (17 May 2013)

In the meantime, the Tesco Extra store has been receiving deliveries since last week, and will open at 8am on Thursday, along with the scheme’s 750-space undercroft car park; however, shoppers expecting to see very much else open on the first day may be disappointed.

Ellison Walk, with Greggs signage visible (15 May 2013)

Along Ellison Walk – the new ‘street’ connecting the scheme’s central square to Gateshead’s existing West Street – only Greggs has its signage up so far. Nearby, posters in the window announce Sports Direct’s presence, though it’s not expected to be ready to open for at least another week or so. In High Street, there’s nothing in the windows of the existing Poundland or Albemarle Bond to indicate an imminent relocation, suggesting that these new stores won’t be opening immediately either.

One of the student accommodation blocks (17 May 2013)

Elsewhere, work continues on the Vue cinema ahead of its opening later this year, while we have to wait until September next year for the first of nearly 1,000 Northumbria University students to take up residence in the accommodation blocks.

New CeX store, West Street, Gateshead (17 May 2013)

There are some signs of progress ahead of the scheme’s opening day, however. On West Street, CeX has its signage up and its fitout complete, and is confirming that it will open on Thursday.

Work underway at Moffee’s unit, High Street, Gateshead (15 May 2013)

On the High Street side, work on Moffee’s is underway, and the signage for the new Costa – which will occupy two floors – is visible from the new pedestrian access in Jackson Street, creating a link to the rest of the town centre where previously there was just a wall.

Costa’s signage visible from Jackson Street (17 May 2013)

A similar view from 2009, with the famous Get Carter car park (17 Sep 2009)

Fake shopfronts have also been installed across the scheme, helping to mitigate the visual impact of empty units.

Fake shopfront, West Street, Gateshead (15 May 2013)

Regular readers will know that I’m a big supporter of the Trinity Square scheme, both in my capacity as a retail commentator and as someone who lives, works and shops in Gateshead. It is, after all, a £150m investment in a tired town centre in the midst of an economic downturn, and one of only a handful of new shopping centres to open in the UK this year.

For all that, the short-term impact of Trinity Square will include both positives and negatives. Gateshead town centre has proved surprisingly resilient amid the disruption of the scheme’s development and the temporary loss of its major retail anchor in Tesco, successfully filling the space vacated by the departure of Woolworths and the Co-op department store thanks to names like Wetherspoon, Ponden Home, Card Factory and Poundland.

Signage up at the new Tesco Extra (17 May 2013)

The new Tesco Extra, more than three times the size of its predecessor, should bring back many of the shoppers who used the old store, as well as attracting new ones thanks to its improved ranges and shopping experience.

The old Gateshead Tesco, in 2010 (18 Jun 2010)

Sports Direct and Costa, in particular, are also useful and well known brands that would have been very unlikely to invest in Gateshead town centre previously.

Scheme signage at Trinity Square, Gateshead (17 May 2013)

At least to start with, these benefits will be partly offset by as many as eight Trinity Square tenants – as well as the temporary Tesco store – vacating their existing space in Gateshead town centre, with High Street likely to be especially hit.

As I’ve suggested before, however, a number of factors point to the scheme having a definite positive impact in the longer term: the cinema and restaurants, building a nighttime economy where previously there was barely one; the students, bringing spending power and a more diverse town centre user base; and the fact that Trinity Square is literally the middle of the town centre doughnut, rather than an edge-of-centre scheme sucking the life out of an established retail core. Indeed, even where businesses are relocating, their vote of confidence in the town centre – by investing in better and often bigger premises – is a welcome sign.

So, while the established parts of Gateshead town centre may look a little threadbare initially, I’ll be surprised if the Gateshead of three years’ time isn’t in a much healthier state than it would ever have been without Trinity Square.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including detailed coverage of the North East. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Ground-floor gift department at Havens, Westcliff-on-Sea (24 Sep 2010). Photograph courtesy of Havens

The traditional, independent department store has been a fixture of the British high street for generations – yet look around, and you could be forgiven for thinking its days were numbered.

From the current closure of Midlands Co-op’s non-food estate to the loss of Aberdeen’s 130-year-old Esslemont & Macintosh in 2007, iconic department stores continue to disappear amid changing retail habits and a turbulent economy. Others have been subsumed – and, in some cases, saved – by bigger groups such as House of Fraser and Beales, able to exploit their nationwide brand presence, better buying power, and greater capacity to embrace the changing, multichannel retail landscape. Even then, however, as in the case of the now-32-store Beales’ chain, profitability can still prove elusive.

So what does a family-run department store need to do to navigate and succeed in modern retail? Certainly, as I’ve noted before, the demise of the independent department store is far from inevitable, and there are plenty of examples around the country that continue to hang on – or even thrive – by offering a combination of product, service and convenience that still resonates with their local communities while potentially tapping into a wider customer base online.

In Westcliff-on-Sea, one family-owned retailer that’s working hard to do all those things is the 112-year-old Havens, and I spoke to managing director Nigel Havens about how he and his team are ensuring that Havens remains relevant and attractive to the modern consumer.

Q. Tell me a little bit about your business – where is it based, what’s its history, and what does it do?

Frontage of Havens, Westcliff-on-Sea (24 Sep 2010). Photograph courtesy of Havens

Havens was established in 1901 by my great grandfather Rawdon Havens, and is based in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. The store covers three floors and 9,000 square feet.

Havens has always been a specialist retailer of china, glass, housewares and gifts, stocking all the major industry brands. Over the years new departments and product categories have been introduced, some relatively short lived like ladies’ fashions and linens. Stationery, homewares, perfumery and cosmetics are now well established and complimenting our original product lines.

Housewares department at Havens, Westcliff-on-Sea (24 Sep 2010). Photograph courtesy of Havens

Q. And what’s your own role in the business?

Together with my brother Paul, I manage the business with a very experienced, supportive and loyal team. My own responsibilities cover just about every aspect of the business, though my focus is on business development.

I have developed a reasonable understanding of Internet trading and continue to try to promote our corporate business.

Q. What’s your business model, and why? Is it bricks, clicks or both?

First-floor china department at Havens, Westcliff-on-Sea (24 Sep 2010). Photograph courtesy of Havens

Our business has 3 distinct components:

• The retail store;
• The Havens website at http://www.havens.co.uk/;
• The Havens Corporate Long Service and Loyalty Recognition Company, providing gift solutions to businesses at http://www.havensawards.co.uk/.

Q. Looking forward, what do you see as the greatest opportunities for a business like yours at the moment?

We have enjoyed great growth over the last four years, mainly driven by growth in our online business, although the current economic situation and decline in consumer confidence has hit us in the immediate short term and continues to present challenges.

However, as a small business we can adapt quickly to meet those challenges and as things begin to improve we are optimistic that our specialist website will continue to provide growth.

Q. And what about the main challenges?

Glassware department at Havens, Westcliff-on-Sea (24 Sep 2010). Photograph courtesy of Havens

The main challenges are the overall UK economy and the impact it has on consumer spending.

Additionally our main competitors online are our suppliers, although by and large we can counter that. The issue this presents is that they tend to dominate Google’s current search algorithm and this can preclude choice.

Havens website (22 Apr 2013)

Amazon selling direct is also an issue as they try to dominate the market and will look to undercut the lowest price online. However, brands are wising up to the potential impact that this may have on their brands and are becoming increasingly reluctant to sell directly to Amazon, preferring to sell on Amazon through their established official stockists.

Q. Where do you hope your business will be in five years’ time?

Havens Awards site (22 Apr 2013)

The plan is to steady the retail sales, which is already beginning to happen, and to grow our Internet sales and corporate business. The way we configure the store may need to change.

Q. And any final thoughts or comments that you’d like to add?

The next year is going to remain very tough for most retailers. I see no sign of the economy improving in the short term, not least whilst there is financial turmoil in Europe.

The high street will change and evolve – it will not return to its former shopping glory but will need to adapt and provide a social and leisure offering, mixed with some specialist shops.

I see our Internet sales returning strongly after a small blip with our new updated website that has caused one or two short-term organic search issues. These are currently being resolved.

Retailer Q&A is a format where Soult’s Retail View talks to retailers – large or small, and whether bricks, clicks or multichannel – about their current innovations, aspirations and challenges. As always with Soult’s Retail View, the features are not paid for – it’s all about providing interesting stories and content for the blog’s readers. If you run a retail business and are interested in taking part in the feature, please drop me an email or a tweet.

Trinity Square’s High Street frontage (21 Apr 2013)

One month ahead of its 23 May opening, the names of several more tenants for Gateshead’s £150m Trinity Square development have emerged.

The most recent brochure for the Tesco-led regeneration scheme, dated September 2012, features the logos of Sports Direct, CeX, Subway and Poundland, indicating that they will be joining the already confirmed occupants of Greggs, Ladbrokes, Phones4u and Costa. Meanwhile, Tesco’s own 103,000 sq ft Extra store, which will open at 8am on 23 May, is set to feature the latest version of its F&F clothing department, as recently trialled at some of its London stores.

A further 15 units are shown as ‘under negotiation’ and 12 as ‘available’, suggesting that a large proportion of the scheme will be let by the time it opens four weeks on Thursday. This brochure version of the letting plan is, incidentally, significantly more up to date than the one on the Trinity Square website, which hasn’t been updated for some time.

Ellison Walk, Trinity Square, Gateshead (21 Apr 2013)

Elsewhere on site, work will continue to complete the 9-screen Vue Cinema, which is expected to open towards the end of the year, and the 993-room student village for Northumbria University – built on top of the Tesco Extra store – which will welcome its first occupants in September 2014.

Trinity Steps, with Vue Cinema on left and Tesco Extra on right (21 Apr 2013)

Of the stores signed up to date, Sports Direct is particularly welcome because it will be an entirely new name to Gateshead town centre. In contrast, Subway, Greggs and Ladbrokes are all already represented in the town, though it’s not clear at this stage whether the Trinity Square stores will be additional branches or relocations. Poundland, too, will in all probability be relocating from its existing premises at 232-240 High Street, meaning that the 6,127 sq ft former Woolworths site will once again become empty, as will the former Kwik Save opposite, at 241 High Street, that Tesco has been using for its temporary store.

Poundland store, Gateshead (21 Sep 2010)

Though the number of potential relocations has prompted some to express concerns about Trinity Square’s immediate impact on the existing town centre, it’s hard not to conclude that the overall picture is a positive one for Gateshead. In Jackson Street, for example, Pure Gym, Wetherspoon, Ponden Home and the reopened Peacocks have all taken space in the former Co-op building in the last 18 months – in full knowledge of the Trinity Square plans – while Bewick Way, the new pedestrian link between the two, will knit Jackson Street into the scheme in a way that was never the case before.

Bewick Way, connecting Trinity Square with Jackson Street in Gateshead (21 Apr 2013)

Similarly, it’s hard to imagine the existing Poundland and temporary Tesco units being empty for long. Given their proximity to the new scheme and the extra footfall it will bring, there’s a strong likelihood that they will appeal to prospective new retail or leisure tenants, perhaps attracting expanding value retailers who are not currently represented in the town centre, such as Discount UK, Boyes, 99p Stores, B&M Bargains or Mountain Warehouse.

Given the general pressure on Britain’s high streets at present, and the fact that Gateshead’s retail heart has been a Tesco-less building site for the last year, the continued busyness of the town centre on a typical weekday is remarkable. On the last two or three lunchtimes I’ve visited, for example, I’ve struggled to find a seat in Wetherspoon’s, thanks to it being packed with shoppers laden with their Iceland, Home Bargains and Poundland bags.

Clearly, Gateshead town centre can’t compete with Newcastle city centre or Metrocentre in terms of the scale, quality or breadth of its retail offer, but then nor can other nearby retail centres such as Jarrow, Blaydon or South Shields. For everyday shopping, however, many consumers still value a convenient, compact, local offer that’s on their doorstep, complementing more occasional trips to the big mall down the road.

As a town centre that performs that local function, I’m pretty confident that Gateshead has a successful and exciting future – and we don’t have long to wait now to experience the next phase of that rejuvenation.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including detailed coverage of the North East. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Items from Lucza’s collection. Photograph courtesy of Lucza

Yesterday’s blog about Jack Wills opening a Newcastle store alongside TK Maxx and Armani Exchange demonstrated that many established fashion names are continuing to find opportunities on the high street alongside developing their online operations.

However, the success of Asos – with sales of £495m in the last financial year – has shown that fashion can work just fine as a pureplay operation too, with scope to build distinctive stores that target specific market segments and build a following through social media and positive word of mouth.

Here in the North East, for example, I recently came across Newcastle-based Pink Boutique at a networking event, an online ”celebrity-inspired fashion” store for ”fashion-conscious 16-30 year olds” that has more than 46,000 Likes on Facebook and is set to achieve £1m turnover in its first year – and there are many others with similar stories of growth and success.

Items from Lucza’s collection. Photograph courtesy of Lucza

Targeting more mature women in the 35+, urban, AB demographic, one of those online fashion successes is two-year-old premium brand Lucza, which has seen 282% year-on-year monthly sales growth and a 154% rise in orders. Crucially, it’s customer loyalty that’s driving a big chunk of that growth, with the number of repeat customers increasing fourfold.

To find out more, I spoke to the company’s commercial director, Jeremy Buckler, about the inspiration for launching Lucza, its achievements to date, and its aspirations for the future.

Q. Tell me a little bit about your business – where is it based, what’s its history, and what does it do?

Items from Lucza’s collection. Photograph courtesy of Lucza

American-born Karen Scofield launched Lucza in April 2011 after searching unsuccessfully for beautifully made, effortlessly chic pieces that she could “throw on without a second thought and be good to go.”

Lucza’s mission is to help simplify its customers’ busy lives by providing high-quality, chic and versatile wardrobe essentials through an easy-to-use website that is supported by a first-class customer service experience. Lucza epitomises contemporary elegance, with its simple classic silhouettes, luxurious high-quality fabrics and refined colour palettes.

Items from Lucza’s collection. Photograph courtesy of Lucza

The collection has grown over the past six months to include chic separates, dresses, knitwear and jackets as well as the luxury loungewear essentials on which the brand was initially founded, 90% of which is made in England. Worn by style influencers Samantha Cameron, Mariella Frostrup and Rosamund Pike, we believe that Lucza provides the perfect wardrobe solution.

Our offices are based in Notting Hill, London.

Q. And what’s your own role in the business?

I am the commercial director at Lucza and responsible for all finance, sales, production and operations of the business.

Q. What’s your business model, and why? Is it bricks, clicks or both?

Screenshot of Lucza website (19 Apr 2013)

The business model is to remain as an online offering that is complemented by a telephone sales channel, something our customers have shown that they want from our customer survey. So, in addition to the website, we send out seasonal catalogues to our customers who can either order by calling us, where we can offer styling advice, or by going online.

Q. Looking forward, what do you see as the greatest opportunities for a business like yours at the moment?

Items from Lucza’s collection. Photograph courtesy of Lucza

There are a number of strong market trends combining to increase the number of our target customers in the UK, such as the continuing shift of shoppers from the high street to online across all ages, women looking for stylish, flattering classic styles rather than fashionable trend-led clothing, and women working longer.

Q. And what about the main challenges?

As with most clothing brands, it is reaching and acquiring customers as there are many brands now coming online from either an established retail position or a totally new offering.

Online marketing activity is therefore very intense as all these companies compete to get the attention of potential customers. So, there is a clear need to ensure that you are delivering a product the customer wants, but that also exceeds their expectations, and can do it quickly with excellent service so that they will return to you and become a loyal customer.

Q. Where do you hope your business will be in five years’ time?

We would expect to be the go-to brand for our target demographic within the UK, have significantly grown our product offering, and also to have taken the brand international.

Retailer Q&A is a format where Soult’s Retail View talks to retailers – large or small, and whether bricks, clicks or multichannel – about their current innovations, aspirations and challenges. As always with Soult’s Retail View, the features are not paid for – it’s all about providing interesting stories and content for the blog’s readers. If you run a retail business and are interested in taking part in the feature, please drop me an email or a tweet.

Jack Wills, Exeter (9 Sep 2011)

I understand that self-styled “university outfitter” Jack Wills has agreed terms on the prominent corner unit at Hammerson’s Monument Mall, bringing the brand to Newcastle for the first time.

The unit (pictured below), with frontages to both Blackett Street and Northumberland Street, is the space that Evans and Wallis occupied prior to Monument Mall’s redevelopment getting underway, and the site that had been earmarked for a flagship Barclays branch before those plans were turned down by Newcastle City Council in July last year.

In the artist’s impressions that were unveiled at Monument Mall six weeks ago, the unit in question is one of two that were yet to bear the name of a real-life retailer. If confirmed, the new store will be only the second in the North East, after Durham.

Poster showing Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

So, what of those names that were revealed on the hoardings last month? Well, Armani Exchange and Jamie’s Italian are, even now, still the only two that are officially confirmed, along with the already open TK Maxx (below), of course.

New TK Maxx, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

However, Kiehls, the New York-based ‘old-world apothecary’, is believed to have also agreed terms, while Bose and Hugo Boss are both still in the frame. As long rumoured, the basement unit next to Monument Mall Metro – formerly TK Maxx – is most likely to become Sainsbury’s.

I believe there may also be good news soon for the former Peacocks unit, which has seen off four occupants – Peacocks, Zavvi, Virgin Megastore and Next – since Woolworths vacated it in 1984, after trading there for more than 70 years. As speculated previously, Sports Direct – which already had a Monument Mall store prior to the redevelopment – is the likely occupant here, though not necessarily for the company’s eponymous fascia.

Sports Direct, Newcastle (22 Aug 2012)

For some time, Sports Direct has been understood to be looking to relocate from its Eldon Square premises in Blackettbridge (above), which were originally built for H&M and have an awkward layout due to the way that the unit sails over the top of Blackett Street. However, I’m led to believe that the Eldon Square store won’t now be vacated, and that the Monument Mall premises will trade alongside it, possibly as one of the brands in Mike Ashley’s Premium Lifestyle division.

This part of the business includes the young fashion chain Republic, which Sports Direct acquired in February, as well as USC, Cruise, Van Mildert and Flannels. Might a move be on the cards for Republic, freeing up a slot in the prime St Andrew’s Way stretch of Eldon Square for the Zara or Gap that Newcastle city centre is still missing? We’ll see.

Poster showing Victoria’s Secret at Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

And what of lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret, the name that probably caused most excitement when it appeared on Hammerson’s posters? Well, not such good news, I’m afraid. My understanding is that despite what the hoardings might show, the retailer is very unlikely to open in Newcastle before 2015, with efforts to secure a location – more than likely not in Monument Mall – expected to begin next summer.

It’s all a bit odd, frankly, but if the idea was to test the water and generate a buzz about the brand possibly coming to Newcastle, well, it seems to have worked – even if Hammerson might face the wrath of Tyneside’s young female shoppers for getting their hopes up prematurely.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including extensive coverage of the North East. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Rescued HMV store in Newcastle (5 Apr 2013)

Following Graham’s recent article about HMV’s buyout by restructuring specialists Hilco, it is worth taking a look at what lies ahead for this British institution. While the closure of getting on for half the UK stores suggests otherwise, HMV does have a promising future.

If your local store is one of those earmarked to stay open, you have the chance to play a game. Have a friend sit at home with their laptop, and pick a random artist. Now it’s time to race: your friend buys an album online, while you pop down to HMV.

Who will win? They will win, of course – unless you raced against your nan, there’s no way you could. According to many, the practicality of buying online compared to the high street is one of the main reasons for the latter’s demise. In the music industry, however, the former does have its limits.

One of the reasons you will lose, aside from the faff that is trying to get into a town centre, is that you will take an age looking in the store, and be distracted by the many other albums on offer, in genres you hadn’t even considered before – and this is where HMV’s key strength lies.

Purchased songs in the iTunes iPad app (11 Apr 2013)

Before the days of iTunes and their ‘recommendation’ of music for you, how much musical knowledge was passed on by people flicking through records in shops, stopping when they found a sleeve that piqued their interest? Before the online revolution changed the way we listen to music, record shops provided a valuable plinth for new and emerging artists alike. Wasting a few hours in the shop, listening to new music with friends, is experiential marketing at its finest, which iTunes, for all its user profiles and social media links, cannot replicate.

The Internet has had some fantastic effects on the music industry, and the tribalistic days of mods and rockers are far behind us as musical tastes become more eclectic and open minded. More importantly, as Ed Sheeran and Lily Allen showed us, if you have the talent, it will be heard eventually, spreading naturally as people, with genuine belief that it will be enjoyed, post to each other’s Facebook and (back in the day) Myspace – a refreshing change from the manufactured drivel that is pushed upon us.

Amazon app on iPad (11 Apr 2013)

For Lily Allen and Ed Sheeran, however, the Internet was just a tool; it was the culture of finding and sharing new music that was key to their success. Whether this culture continues to thrive online is debatable; log into Spotify and you are given a list of suggested tunes based on your previous activity, but this list is nowhere near as good as the recommendations a knowledgeable shop assistant can give you.

When Virgin Megastores first opened, they knew the value of service and customer experience, providing comfy sofas and headphones, allowing customers more time to relax and get lost in music, a lesson from the ’80s that HMV needs to learn. This all seems a bit idealistic, looking at record shops with the overwhelming bias of nostalgia, and where the experience may be pleasant but you are still liable to leave the store empty handed. If you’re not selling records, you’re not making money, right?

Former Virgin Megastore, Newcastle (15 Oct 2007). Photograph by Mankind 2k

Truth be told, few people do make money from selling records any more; record companies can no longer just place a record on the market and rely on sales of the music itself. A few weeks ago when Beyoncé announced her Mrs Carter tour, tickets sold out in a matter of minutes with fans paying up to £350; this, coupled with her endorsements and merchandise, show where the real money lies.

The rise in popularity of electronic dance music in America has created a market for musicians ghost writing music for bigger artists, to help sell out their arena shows. Beyoncé and these ‘artists’ (naming no names, they know who they are!) may seem like an extreme example, but for many genuine musicians, releasing records is merely a publicity exercise, bankrolled by tours and sponsorships. These records still need a platform, and this is where HMV, given the Virgin Megastores treatment, could excel.

By focusing on service and experience, HMV could turn its stores into a hub of music, a place for the nation’s audiophiles to come and indulge their passion, and share their findings with others. At present, this role is performed admirably by Facebook and YouTube, but HMV could be doing a far better job of it.

Early signs suggest that HMV’s new owners are adopting this strategy, and, as covered by Graham in his previous article, are opting for fewer but larger stores. Keeping the grander establishments in metropolitan areas, at the expense of the smaller, more isolated ones, will allow them to create more leisurely venues, in areas where people shop for leisure.

A captive audience of opinion-leading enthusiasts will have record company bosses falling over each other to reach them. In the same way that supermarket shelf space is a premium product, HMV will once again be a key player in the music industry.

Joe Errington is a music lover, record collector, and a marketing executive for MITIE.

Thank you to Mankind 2k for the use of his photograph of Newcastle’s old Virgin Megastore, which is © Copyright Mankind 2k and licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.

Premurosa.com homepage (8 Apr 2013)

One of the joys of doing a lot of networking in the North East – both via social media and in person, through networks such as Durham Business Club and The Mussel Club – is that I get to meet lots of really interesting retail-related people, often in the early stages of building and growing their businesses.

Though the businesses I come across take different forms – encompassing physical, online and multichannel retail – what often marks them out is a distinctive concept, attention to detail, a real passion for their product, and an emphasis on great service: in short, the features that characterise many of the most successful modern retailers.

These thoughts are never far from the mind of Blaydon-based Jo Harrison, who I recently bumped into at two events within a week, and whose online business, Premurosa, is less than four months old. So, in between all the coffee and swapping of business cards, I took some time to find out more about what Premurosa is, how things are going so far, and Jo’s aspirations for taking the business forward.

Q. Tell me a little bit about your business – where is it based, what’s its history, and what does it do?

We are a brand new online business, based in Blaydon, Tyne & Wear, offering quality gift and card combinations with a difference.

Premurosa is Italian for thoughtful and that’s what we are. We offer many handmade and organic products which are packed beautifully into a bespoke gift box along with a personalised card. The gift box is posted through the letterbox so there’s an element of surprise. At Premurosa we like to think we contribute to making someone’s day happy. Alongside our signature gift boxes we also launched our unique Invitation gift boxes which are perfect for small and large gatherings and really make a great first impression.

Premurosa corporate gift boxes

As a forward thinking, inspirational company we soon saw the opportunity to create a corporate gift box, ideal for target marketing, encouraging new sales and repeat business. Because our gifts are delivered straight through the letterbox, they are perfect for sending as a surprise to achieve the ultimate reaction and we offer a variety of products clients, or prospective clients, will remember.

Q. And what’s your own role in the business?

I am the founder of Premurosa. I am also the Managing Director, Marketing Manager, Buyer, Photographer, Packer and more. I drag in friends and family as and when I need them although I hope to employ a few staff on a permanent basis in the near future.

Creating new ideas and then selling them is what I enjoy the most so I’m looking forward to times when I don’t have to wear so many hats!

Q. What’s your business model, and why? Is it bricks, clicks or both?

Premurosa invitation gift box

Premurosa was always going to be web based. The website (http://www.premurosa.com/) was created for retail sales with additional pages for Corporate and Invitation Gift Boxes where people are encouraged to either contact us direct or complete a quotation form for a more personal response and service.

Now that we have introduced the new corporate, incentive gift boxes I’m in the process of deciding whether or not to develop the existing website or create a brand new website. In the meantime I’m able to be more proactive with the corporate sales, contacting businesses in person and exhibiting at fairs so maybe I have the best of both worlds?

Q. Looking forward, what do you see as the greatest opportunities for a business like yours at the moment?

With most companies cutting marketing budgets, I see target marketing as being more important than ever. Our corporate incentive boxes are different to anything I’ve ever seen and I believe they will be received well within many areas.

For example, as well as target marketing, suggested uses might include sending an invitation to a forthcoming event, informing your clients that you’re moving premises, or even sending your apologies in a unique way, for those odd occasions when things go wrong.

Initially, I think the corporate incentive boxes will do better than the retail site; however, with the right advertising both sites have the potential to do well.

Q. And what about the main challenges?

Premurosa products

Driving traffic of the right criteria to my website so they transpire into sales has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. As well as the usual SEO, I may need to change the photos on my website to include the gift box, card and little extras so that the products look better value for money.

Employing staff and growing the workforce will also be a challenge, although I’m ready to welcome this and make our working environment one that people enjoy being in.

Q. Where do you hope your business will be in five years’ time?

I am a very positive and creative individual and I know that with a lot of hard work Premurosa has the potential to develop into a very successful business. To be a household name would be a dream come true. Doesn’t every company want that!

Q. And any final thoughts or comments that you’d like to add?

I’d like to thank you, Graham, and CannySites.com for this opportunity to showcase my business.

Retailer Q&A is a format where Soult’s Retail View talks to retailers – large or small, and whether bricks, clicks or multichannel – about their current innovations, aspirations and challenges. As always with Soult’s Retail View, the features are not paid for – it’s all about providing interesting stories and content for the blog’s readers. If you run a retail business and are interested in taking part in the feature, please drop me an email or a tweet!

1951 advert for HMV, featuring the iconic Nipper image

It’s been nearly three months coming, but now the news that everyone wanted to hear has been confirmed: the iconic entertainment retailer HMV, which collapsed in January, has been bought out of administration by Hilco, saving 141 stores (listed here) and 2,500 jobs.

That total includes the nine stores that trade under the Fopp fascia, as well as 25 shops that had previously been earmarked for closure by the administrator Deloitte. Some branches that had been destined to shut – including in Edinburgh’s Princes Street, Leamington Spa, Nuneaton and Newport – had already hinted at an imminent resolution earlier this week, with the appearance of posters saying “We’re here to stay!” In the North East, Darlington, Metrocentre, Newcastle and Sunderland are all confirmed as safe, while Middlesbrough – previously on the closure list – also gets a reprieve.

Closed-down HMV in a snowy Durham (26 Mar 2013)

Though the rescue is too late for the 90 or so HMV stores that have already closed their doors – such as the Durham branch, above – an estate of 141 shops is still at the upper end of what retail commentators had expected to emerge from HMV’s collapse, so is to be welcomed on that basis. Separately, Hilco has also confirmed that it is in negotiations with a number of landlords with a view to re-establishing an HMV business in the Republic of Ireland after Receivers there closed the stores shortly after their appointment in January.

Closed-down HMV, Durham (26 Mar 2013)

In a statement, Paul McGowan, CEO of Hilco, explained that “we have spent a number of weeks negotiating revised terms with landlords and the key suppliers to the business, all of whom have been supportive of our plans to maintain an entertainment retailer on the high street.

“We hope to replicate some of the success we have had in the Canadian market with the HMV Canada business which we acquired almost two years ago and which is now trading strongly. The structural differences in the markets and the higher level of competition in the UK will prove additional challenges for the UK business but we believe it has a successful future ahead of it.”

HMV, Solihull (22 Feb 2013)

There are going to be some changes at the top of the business too, with a new Hilco team set to work alongside existing management. The Hilco team will be led by Ian Topping, former Chief Executive of the Steinhoff Group in the UK – owner of home chains such as Harveys, Cargo and Bensons for Beds – and Henry Foster, an Investment Director at Hilco. Paul McGowan will take up the role of Chairman of the new business.

Comments from Ian Topping give a flavour of HMV’s likely direction – refocused on its traditional entertainment specialism – under new ownership, stating that “this is an exciting investment for the Hilco team and we will be able to use some of the developments already progressed in Canada to restore HMV to health. We intend to reverse the earlier decisions to sell tablets and other devices in the stores and to reclaim the space for an enhanced music and visual range.”

HMV.ca website (5 Apr 2013)

So, other than having fewer (but generally larger) stores than before, and its technology space rededicated to entertainment, what is the new HMV likely to look like?

As Hilco’s Paul McGowan noted above, all the structural changes that contributed towards HMV’s collapse (and that I discussed in my earlier blog) clearly remain the case: the big supermarkets are still selling DVDs, music and games at highly competitive prices; Amazon still offers a range of physical product that no high-street retailer can possibly match; and iTunes and others are profiting from our desire to access music instantly via our computers, iPods and other mobile devices.

However, though Hilco is sometimes portrayed as a “vampire” that “preys on dying brands”, its experience in running – and increasing sales at – HMV Canada since 2011 does bode well. When Retail Week’s Alex Lawson analysed HMV Canada’s success back in January, he highlighted – as Paul McGowan from Hilco has – the lesser competition in the Canadian market and the fact that digital downloads are still a smaller proportion of that than in the UK. However, Hilco’s work in getting the range and pricing right, building loyalty, developing a more compelling “combined retail and online offering”, and generally “focusing on providing an excellent shopping experience” are all steps that could make a positive difference in the UK.

1951 advert for HMV – “The Hallmark of Quality”

As Hilco’s statement this morning has noted, “the reaction of the British public to the administration of HMV shows a strong desire for the business to continue to trade and we hope to play a constructive part in delivering that.” Clearly, alerted to the potential loss of HMV from the high street, many shoppers felt the urge to show their support for the business – and that sense of goodwill, and a desire for HMV to succeed, is a potentially incredible resource for Hilco to tap into.

In turn, it will need to focus on many of the things that I highlighted back in January: building on HMV’s heritage as an entertainment specialist to begin conveying real passion for the product again; exploiting the incredible asset that is its staff – who have been brilliant throughout these three months of uncertainty; and, crucially, offering customers experiences that simply can’t be replicated online, while still looking to embrace multichannel in a more joined-up and convincing way than has been the case to date. Hilco’s initial comments, and the experience from Canada, suggest that it recognises this too.

Digging around in my files, I happened to stumble upon a 1951 programme for a ‘Grand Tour’ by the operatic soprano Joan Hammond, featuring a lovely advert for HMV on the back cover (above). It includes the iconic and familiar image of Nipper and the gramophone, along with the slogan “The Hallmark of Quality”.

Sixty years on, the Nipper logo remains but the way we consume entertainment has been transformed beyond all recognition. I’d argue, however, that a modern “hallmark of quality” – in terms of the overall customer experience, across all channels – is exactly what will allow HMV to build a secure and successful future for itself.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including coverage of entertainment retail. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Plaque at former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon’s), Prestwick (21 Nov 2012)

As well as covering the long-gone Woolworths stores in Harrow Station Road and Sudbury Hill, another intriguing post on Stuart Kew’s new Forgotten London Woolworths blog tells the story of store #430 at 256-258 West Hendon Broadway – one I’ve yet to visit, and that was a very early closure in 1970.

Interestingly, Stuart notes that one of its subsequent uses was as a Wetherspoon pub – apparently called the White Lion of Mortimer – which itself closed in 1998. As such, it has the distinction of being among the relatively small pool of 105 former Wetherspoon locations; in contrast, there are 870 (and rising) Wetherspoon pubs that are trading today, including quite a few in former Woolworths premises. So, I thought it might be fun to pull together the ex-Woolworths Wetherspoons that I’ve come across on my travels to date.

Former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon’s), Prestwick (21 Nov 2012)

Of those I’ve visited, only one – in Prestwick, in Ayrshire – occupies a Woolworths site that became vacant following the retailer’s 2008 collapse. Opened as Woolies on 7 May 1937 (store #694), the property at 87 Main Street has the five-bay symmetry of a purpose-built 1930s Woolworths, though you’d never know its history from the inside – Wetherspoon undertook the comprehensive transformation that you’d expect to create ‘The Prestwick Pioneer’ last year, with the framed Woolies memorabilia on the way to the loos at least giving a flavour of the building’s past.

Inside former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon’s), Prestwick (21 Nov 2012)

The building’s Woolworths origins are also mentioned in a plaque attached to its frontage, which is a nice touch, even if the reference to ’1935′ is a couple of years wide of the mark.

Plaque at former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon’s), Prestwick (21 Nov 2012)

In Burton upon Trent, in Staffordshire, the town’s original Woolworths on the High Street is one that I’ve blogged about before, with the space now divided in half between a Wetherspoon pub called The Lord Burton and another bar called The Park.

Here too there was some confusion over Wetherspoon’s dates, with the company website wrongly suggesting that the premises had traded as Woolworths immediately prior to Wetherspoon taking them over. There was, in fact, a 14-year-gap: Woolworths relocated to the Coopers Square shopping centre on 21 November 1983, and the old store was used as a discount warehouse and an indoor market before Wetherspoon took it over in 1997.

Former Woolworths (now The Lord Burton and The Park), Burton-upon-Trent (23 Dec 2010)

Another Wetherspoon pub that opened in an ex-Woolies at about the same time is J.J. Moon’s at 12 Victoria Road in Ruislip Manor, London. Opened as Woolworths store #985, its store number points to an October 1957 opening, while a Woolworths closure list from 1989 confirms that it shut on 28 January 1984. It opened as a Wetherspoon pub on 12 November 1990 – almost seven years later – but I’m not clear whether the building had any other use in the intervening period.

Former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon), Ruislip Manor (10 Feb 2012)

As at Prestwick, however, there’s little clue inside to the building’s past, though the exterior is fairly typical of the types of store that Woolworths was opening in the 1950s.

Interior of former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon), Ruislip Manor (10 Feb 2012)

In Blackpool, Wetherspoon’s The Albert and The Lion pub occupies part of one of the most iconic Woolworths buildings of all: the six-storey Art Deco store #66 on the corner of the Promenade and Bank Hey Street, at the foot of Blackpool Tower, which became the largest Woolworths in the world following its celebrated 1937 rebuilding.

Former Woolworths, Blackpool (9 May 2012)

Kingfisher controversially sold the still-profitable store to a developer in 1983, after which it became Price Busters. a large indoor market, in April 1985. That in turn closed in 2007, with the space being carved up between Sports Direct, a short-lived Peacocks (closed down when I visited last May), and the Wetherspoon pub, opened on 2 July 2010, occupying the section facing the Promenade.

Former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon), Blackpool (9 May 2012)

Happily, Wetherspoon’s investment has helped to make the building look better than it has at any point since Woolworths’ departure. While the Price Busters store was loved in some quarters as much as Woolworths, its garish signage was never really in keeping with such a handsome building; Wetherspoon’s, in contrast, has vaguely played up the Art Deco heritage with its modern signage on an understated fascia.

Another formerly large Woolworths site that Wetherspoon now occupies a part of is the one in Reading (#111). After trading since 1922, the large Reading store closed for redevelopment on 17 June 1989, reopening on a smaller footprint facing Broad Street – where the present-day Clas Ohlson is – as store #1180 on 5 November 1992. Meanwhile, The Hope Tap Wetherspoon pub, which opened on 25 June 1997, trades from a modern building that sits where Woolworths’ pre-redevelopment Friar Street frontage was.

Site of former Woolworths frontage, Friar Street, Reading (19 Aug 2011)

Finally, we have a Wetherspoon pub that isn’t open yet, but is set to occupy the former YMCA shop at 63 Shields Road in Byker – formerly home to the second incarnation of Woolworths’ store #276, prior to its closure on 1 June 1985. Though there’s no opening date yet, a newspaper report earlier this week indicated that work was now underway, and that the pub would be open sometime before the end of the year.

Former Woolworths (as YMCA), Byker (22 Sep 2011)

It won’t be the last new Wetherspoon pub in an ex-Woolworths either, with John Adams’ excellent and comprehensive ‘JD Wetherspoon Pubs’ list reporting that the former Woolies in Blairgowrie and Dumbarton are both at one stage or another of being converted over. There are still others that have already opened, like the one in Holywell in Flintshire, that I need to work into my itinerary.

What’s particularly interesting is that many of the locations where Wetherspoon pubs are now opening – whether in ex-Woolworths or not – are in smaller towns that could certainly use a high street boost. In Seaham, for example, the new Wetherspoon pub opening on 26 March will occupy the site of the town’s former M&Co, and should provide a welcome footfall boost to a Church Street that has been struggling since the Byron Place shopping centre opened down the road.

Ex-M&Co, Seaham (13 Mar 2012)

The joy of the Wetherspoon model, of course, is that it’s not all about evening drinking – food and hot drinks are a huge part of the offer, and its pubs are really successful at attracting a mixed clientele that includes plenty of women and families throughout the day. In many cases – like in Seaham or Byker – Wetherspoon’s arrival is providing a family-friendly place to eat and drink where none has existed before.

With the future of the high street increasingly likely to be based around leisure as well as retail, Wetherspoon’s continued investment – both in helping to build high street destinations, and in bringing abandoned retail properties back into active and viable use – is welcome indeed.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including coverage of ex-Woolworths locations nationwide. It also works with retailers to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Former Woolworths (now Iceland), Sudbury Hill (10 Feb 2012)

It’s been great to see a new Woolworths-related history blog appear this week, courtesy of longstanding former Woolies staff member Stuart Kew.

His blog, Forgotten London Woolworths, does exactly what it implies, visiting “some sites of former Woolworths stores that were closed in the London area long before the company finally ceased trading in January 2009″, with Stuart having the advantage – and insider knowledge – of having worked for the company for almost 20 years between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s, latterly in a head office management role.

Stuart Kew’s Forgotten London Woolworths blog (16 Mar 2013)

There’s plenty of material for him to work with, too – though there were still 105 live stores in Greater London at the time of Woolworths collapse, there’s something in the area of 150 additional London locations that played host to a Woolworths store at one time or another, of which I’ve only visited 22 to date. I haven’t yet had chance, however, to feature all those stores here, given that my rate of collecting ex-Woolies is far exceeding my capacity to write about them.

So, it’s good that a couple of Stuart’s first blogs have prompted me to leap into action on that front. Back in June 2010, when I was still fairly new to both blogging and my Woolworths searches, you may recall that I paid a visit to Harrow, tracking down the large former store in the St George’s shopping centre (store #1198). Empty at the time of my visit, the unit reopened as Wilkinson in early 2011, ensuring that Woolies’ replacement in Harrow was what is probably its nearest modern equivalent as far as offer and instore feel is concerned.

Former Woolworths in St George’s, Harrow (14 May 2010)

What I hadn’t appreciated at the time, however – but discovered fairly swiftly afterwards – was that the St George’s Woolworths was a replacement for an earlier one in Harrow, located not too far away at 269-271 Station Road (store #406) and opened on 20 September 1930. Fortunately, having an inkling that it looked vaguely Woolies-esque behind its current Yates’s frontage and faux-old first-floor windows, I’d taken a photograph of it anyway.

Original Woolworths (now Yates’s), Harrow (14 May 2010)

Initially I was a bit confused by the chronology, given that the St George’s store had been given a completely new store number, rather than the old one being reused. Did this mean that there had been a gap between the old store closing and the new one opening, rather than it being a straight relocation? Well, apparently not.

Though Woolworths’ usual practice into the 1980s – such as at Burton upon Trent – was just to transfer the old store number over to a relocated store, my impression now is that openings from about the 1990s onwards were given a new number regardless of whether they were completely new stores or relocations of existing ones.

As far as Harrow is concerned, one of Stuart’s blogs from the last week usefully pins down 406′s closure to April 1996, and confirms what I’d heard elsewhere that 1198 had opened immediately afterwards. In a second blog, a series of photographs from 1989 and 1996 show the Harrow Woolworths while still trading, with the familar shopfront and what look to be the original 1930s windows ensuring that it looks much more like a purpose-built Woolies than it does in its modern-day Yates’s incarnation.

Former Woolworths (now Iceland), Sudbury Hill (10 Feb 2012)

Just a few miles down the road, the long-gone Woolworths at 1269 Greenford Road in Sudbury Hill (store #745) is another one on my ‘to blog about’ list that Stuart has covered in one of his own blogs. Closed, according to Stuart, in 1974, it would have been a relatively short-lived store by Woolworths’ standards, with its store number pointing to a 1939 opening. Trading as Iceland today, I didn’t know until I read Stuart’s blog that it was previously a branch of Bejam, the larger and longer-established frozen food chain that Iceland acquired in 1989.

With that Woolworths shut, one of the closest alternative branches would have been a couple of miles along Greenford Road at 48-50 The Broadway, in Greenford. Opened as store #512 on 9 September 1933, it was later renumbered as #2023 in about 2000, at the point where it was converted to the new ‘Woolworths General Store’ format. Though that concept turned out to be shortlived, the store continued to trade – still under its General Store fascia – until Woolworths’ collapse. Coincidentally, that store too is now an Iceland, though it was missing the part of its fascia that says so at the point where I visited a year ago.

Former Woolworths (now Iceland), The Broadway, Greenford (10 Feb 2012)

If you’ve read my blog from earlier this month, you’ll know that Iceland is at #3 in my chart of retailers who have picked up the stores vacated by Woolworths’ demise, trumped only by B&M and Poundland. What’s interesting, however, is that Iceland is one of only two retailers – along with Tesco – that ranks among the top ten occupiers of old Woolworths sites as well; in other words, any of those locations that Woolworths had already closed or relocated from prior to December 2008.

While many of the occupiers of long-gone Woolworths are what we might think of as ‘legacy retailers’ – such as Superdrug, Boots and Argos – who have been around for a long time, those occupying the post-2008 sites tend to be value retailers that have only come to prominence in recent years.

It’s a sign of Iceland’s resilience and continued relevance to consumers that its presence across the ex-Woolies estate, from Greenford Road to Greenford, should incorporate the recently vacated stores just as much as it does the long-vanished ones.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including coverage of supermarkets and of ex-Woolworths locations nationwide. It also works with retailers to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Club Clas promotion on Clas Ohlson’s Swedish website (12 Mar 2013)

Clas Ohlson, the Swedish ‘modern hardware’ retailer, has launched its first loyalty scheme – the ‘Club Clas’ customer club – in its home market, with the UK expected to follow in 2014, I understand.

The move is the latest stage in the retailer’s multichannel offensive, which has already seen significant investment in building a strong social media presence, alongside last summer’s launch of country-specific transactional websites and, in November, versions optimised for mobile use.

Clas Ohlson’s store count still continues to grow too, with 172 stores across Sweden, Norway, Finland and the UK at the end of January – an increase of 20 on the same time last year. As I’ve noted previously, there haven’t been any new store openings in the UK since Newcastle in August 2011, but the latest trading figures released today continue to show UK sales rising, despite the lack of new space. Growing awareness of the Clas Ohlson brand is, it would seem, starting to have a positive impact on sales instore, which is to be welcomed.

Crowds at the opening of Clas Ohlson Newcastle on 24 August 2011

Launched at the beginning of March in Sweden, the objective of the Club Clas customer club is, according to the company, “to reward loyal customers and generate conditions for boosting sales through a rise in visitor frequency and an increase in average ticket value. The programme will also provide the opportunity for more effective marketing. Combined with other sales and service channels (172 stores, e-commerce, catalogues, telephone customer services and social media), Club Clas enables Clas Ohlson to provide easily accessible, inspiring and attractive solutions to everyday practical problems.”

Membership of the scheme is free, and offers benefits in the form of customised club discounts, based on areas of interest and purchasing history, as well as a 3% bonus for all purchases, invitations to theme events, and access to tips and advice. The initiative also promises “membership prices for selected products”, in a move that sounds similar to the well established Ikea Family scheme from Clas Ohlson’s better-known Swedish compatriot.

As with its transactional website, it’s little surprise that Clas Ohlson should opt to launch Club Clas in its native (and largest) market first, given that Sweden still accounts for 46% of company sales. However, though no UK launch has been confirmed, I’m told that it’s likely to happen next year. Given the enthusiasm that many UK customers appear to express for Clas Ohlson via its Facebook Page, launching an initiative that taps into and rewards that passion for the brand – while driving footfall to the shops – seems like a canny move.

Clas Ohlson Facebook page (15 Feb 2013)

Interestingly, I understand that Club Clas will, as with most other retailers’ loyalty programmes, be country specific; in other words, a Clas Ohlson shopper from Sweden won’t be able to use their card in a UK store, or vice versa.

I’m struggling, in fact, to think of any retailer that runs a multinational loyalty programme as opposed to similar, but independent, schemes in different countries, presumably due to the challenges in creating a programme that can work seamlessly across different currencies or languages.

However, as both consumer purchasing (thanks to the Internet) and retailers’ operations become increasingly multinational as well as multichannel, perhaps it won’t be too long before we see a retailer launch a loyalty scheme that truly embraces this changing landscape.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including coverage of new developments and trends in multichannel retail. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and online marketing. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Former Woolworths, Newton Aycliffe (5 Jan 2012)

Headlines:

• 214 ex-Woolworths stores visited, out of the 807 that closed following its collapse
• Of those, only 12 currently empty (6%)
• 7 continually empty (3%)
• 35 with two or more post-Woolies uses (16%).

Looking at my blog, you might be forgiven for thinking that I’ve forgotten about Woolworths in recent months.

It’s certainly true that the number of Woolies-related posts has slowed down a bit – partly due to there being so much going on both in my working life and elsewhere on the high street. I’ve still been mopping them up on my travels, however, as the audience at last month’s Co-operatives UK National Retail Consumer Conference found out when I used the fate of Britain’s ex-Woolworths stores as a framework through which I could give a view of the current retailing environment and the state of the UK high street.

Ex-Woolworths, Chesterfield (30 Dec 2008)

It is a compelling way of looking at how our town centres have changed during the economic downturn – after all, Woolworths went from 807 stores to no stores in just 40 days at the end of 2008, its demise leaving hundreds of towns without one of their most important and long-established retailers.

At the same time, however, it has provided a unique opportunity for successful retailers, hungry for space, to snap up what were, in many (but not all) cases, great locations that Woolworths had occupied for decades. Chesterfield, for example, was one of the first ex-Woolworths I ever photographed – just three days after its closure – but its departure provided an opening for H&M to enter the town.

Ex-Woolworths (now H&M), Chesterfield (10 Nov 2011)

So where I am up to now? Well, I’ve so far visited, photographed and tracked 214 of the 807 stores that closed following Woolworths’ 2008 collapse – or just over a quarter of the entire estate – meaning that, at this rate, I’ll have got them all by 2025. Whenever I’ve visited a store, I’ve kept track of any subsequent changes in its use, ensuring that my records for the 214 (and rising) stores are consistently as up to date as possible.

In terms of geographical spread, my 214 stretch from Penzance to Inverness and Holyhead to Ipswich, and include every region in which Woolworths traded apart from Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, making it a good snapshot of the estate as a whole.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Penzance (20 Feb 2011)

I’ve also accrued another 150 Woolworths sites that had closed or relocated before the company fell into administrations – like the long-gone store in Crook (below), which closed in 1973, the original (pre-1968) Woolworths location in Alnwick, or the sites in London’s Oxford Street that have recently been part of the storyline in ITV’s retail drama Mr Selfridge. While these locations are an important and fascinating part of both Woolworths’ past and our retail history more generally, I count them separately from the 2008 closures, so didn’t include them in my analysis for the NRCC audience.

Former Woolworths (now Boots), Crook (6 Nov 2010)

If we just look at those 214 then, what do we learn? Certainly, the first thing to say is that most of them have become something. Only 12 – or less than 6% – are currently empty, reminding us that even as some retailers collapse, others continue to do well.

In fact, even fewer of those 214 stores – just 7, such as Newton Aycliffe, above – have remained empty the whole time, with the others only becoming empty when a successor to Woolworths has, in turn, moved out or collapsed itself.

Peacocks, Finchley Road (now Iceland) (10 Feb 2012)

Indeed, it’s fascinating quite how much churn there has been across the ex-Woolworths estate over the last four years. Of my 214, 35 stores (or about one in six) have had two or more uses in that time, often where other retailers – particularly TJ Hughes, Peacocks, Alworths and Ethel Austin – have collapsed themselves. Again, however, these spaces have generally been reoccupied fairly quickly.

Ethel Austin, Prescot (now Heron Foods) (10 May 2012)

So, as of now, who are the occupants of our high streets’ former Woolworths? Well, I’ve compiled a top ten for you, based on my sample to date.

Ex-Woolworths (now M&Co), Welshpool (4 Sep 2012)

At 10, with seven stores, is M&Co, one of many fashion retailers that have picked up selected Woolworths sites, among them also Store Twenty One (which is now itself in difficulties), Next, TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer. In the North East, you may recall that M&Co has taken the former Woolworths site in Alnwick.

Heron Foods (former Woolworths), Hillsborough (18 Aug 2011)

At 7, three retailers each have eight former Woolworths sites: first Heron Foods, the Hull-based frozen food chain, which has grown to 170 shops; second, the variety store chain Home Bargains; and third, Tesco, under both its Express and Metro banners. Again, all three are represented among the North East’s ex-Woolies locations too, including Home Bargains in Berwick, Tesco Metro in Durham and Heron Foods in Ashington, Barnard Castle and Wallsend.

Former Woolworths (now The Original Factory Shop), Nailsea (21 Aug 2011)

In joint 5^th, with nine stores a piece, are the small-town department store chain, The Original Factory Shop; and Poundworld, operating under both its eponymous fascia and its Discount UK multi-price format. Again, this echoes the North East picture, where The Original Factory Shop took the Spennymoor ex-Woolies site, and Discount UK is represented at Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Portrack Lane in Stockton.

Ex-Woolworths (now Poundworld), Victoria Centre, Nottingham (16 Aug 2012)

At 4, with 11 stores, is the hardware retailer Wilkinson, which has particularly used the opportunity of Woolworths’ demise to expand in shopping centre locations in Scotland and the South West, where it previously had a limited presence.

Former Woolworths (now Wilkinson), LIvingston (2 Dec 2012)

At 3, with 13 ex-Woolworths sites, is the frozen food specialist Iceland. Many of these, like the shops in Hexham and Morpeth, are locations that Iceland picked up in the very first disposal of ex-Woolies sites in January 2009, just days after the final stores closed their doors.

Former Woolworths (now Iceland), Honiton (6 Sep 2011)

At number 2, with 18 stores, is the discount variety store B&M, under its B&M Bargains and B&M Home Store fascias. With four of the North East’s 33 ex-Woolies sites under its belt, B&M is, together with Store Twenty One, the region’s biggest occupier of former Woolworths locations.

Former Woolworths (now B&M Bargains), Rhyl (25 Sep 2009)

And number 1, as you might have guessed, is the single-price retailer Poundland, occupying 24 – or more than one in ten – of all the ex-Woolworths that I’ve tracked, including many sites mopped up from the other collapsed retailers that I mentioned earlier.

Former Woolworths and TJ Hughes (now Poundland), Blackpool (9 May 2012)

Again, this mirrors the North East, where Poundland has taken over the former Woolworths sites in Gateshead and South Shields, though Peterlee is home to the unusual sight of an ex-Woolies that Poundland has pulled out of, the property now displaying visual reminders of both its previous incarnations.

Former Woolworths and Poundland, Peterlee (16 Oct 2012)

While the bulk of Britain’s former Woolworths estate has been taken over by other retail chains, there are some local curiosities too. There’s a smattering of independent retailers among the stores I’ve visited – many of them, like Ledbury’s Wellworth It!, specialising in homeware or hardware – and even the odd Costa Coffee or Wetherspoon’s.

Former Woolworths (now Wetherspoon’s), Prestwick (21 Nov 2012)

So, other than being merely interesting, what does this particular window on the high street tell us about how our retail centres are faring?

Well, it brings into question, one might argue, the idea that the high street is dying, and that all the retail traffic is one way – heading towards the Internet. Of course, online and multichannel are becoming ever more prominent features of the retail landscape, and ignoring that would be dangerous. However, retailers are still opening stores on the high street, as the 94% of ex-Woolworths back in use demonstrate, because a physical shop can still perform a particular and useful purpose.

Indeed, if we look at those expanding and successful retailers who have taken over most ex-Woolworths space, there are several key themes that we can pull out.

Former Woolworths (now Scotmid), Stockbridge, Edinburgh (29 Jan 2012)

First – and it sounds obvious – it’s clear that in terms of what these new stores sell, people do still want to buy food, clothing and homewares on the high street.

And in terms of what they offer, as a shopping experience, there are also several common and overlapping themes, most obviously the idea of value. Almost without exception, the retailers in my top ten have a very clear and well understood brand, built around a message that customers get a great deal there: not just about it being cheap, but about offering quality products and decent service for a fair price. Wilkinson, for example, attempts to encapsulate this in its modern positioning as “the home of family value”.

Former Woolworths (now Wilkinson), Barnstaple (5 Oct 2012)

Another theme that I’d pull out is convenience. With the obvious exception of Tesco, most of the retailers featured in the top ten are ones where all or most of their business still takes place in physical stores, and where being accessible at the heart of the high street is a virtue. Certainly, the march of the discount variety stores into new product areas – most notably a growing grocery offer – shows that consumers aren’t averse to purchasing a range of different products under one roof.

Home Bargains store interior, Hartlepool (22 Nov 2010)

And the third theme relates to the good experience that you typically get in a value retailer, even as they ruthlessly keep tabs on their costs. It’s little wonder that established mid-market rivals struggle with old or poorly maintained stores when growing retailers like Poundland and Home Bargains (above) manage to offer a consistently good instore experience, with bright interiors, clear signage and plenty of space to move around.

Former Woolworths and Poundsworth, Girvan (21 Nov 2012)

Of course, going down the discount variety store route is no panacea – after all, there’s a reason why a lot of independent pound shops that have opened up on ex-Woolworths sites, such as the one in Girvan, above, have failed to fly.

However, those retail principles of offering value, convenience and experience are ones that chime across the industry. Retailers can’t succeed merely by copying what others do, but the chains that are thriving in the space left by Woolworths certainly offer some good lessons in honing a proposition that resonates with customers at a time of immense change on the high street.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including detailed coverage of ex-Woolworths locations nationwide. It also works with retailers to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

New Maplin, Grainger Street, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Electronics specialist Maplin has confirmed that its relocated Newcastle branch will open on Saturday 16 March.

The retailer is leaving its current site at 43 Pilgrim Street and moving to the ex-Tiso unit at 100-104 Grainger Street, where it will trade from both the basement and ground floor levels. Maplin claims that the extra space will allow it to hold “25% more products”.

Existing Maplin, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Aside from the extra space, the relocation seems like an overall good move for Maplin. Along the street from the abandoned Odeon, empty since 2002, the location of Maplin’s existing store is becoming increasingly peripheral from a retail point of view, not helped by the absence of any progress on the planned regeneration of East Pilgrim Street – a development site that has had a succession of owners over the last decade or so, and will, in any event, require the demolition of the existing Maplin store if and when a regeneration scheme proceeds.

Ex-Tiso, Newcastle, prior to Maplin moving in (27 Aug 2012)

In contrast, the new site in Grainger Street – which was already largely stocked when I passed by two days ago – is a much more central and visible location, close to the Grainger Market and TJ Hughes in a part of the city centre that has, as I’ve noted before, enjoyed a mini-revival in the last couple of years.

New Maplin, Grainger Street, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

While Hammerson’s high-profile lettings at Monument Mall cement the largely organic evolution of Blackett Street and the Monument area into Newcastle’s high-end retail quarter, the new Maplin sits in the middle of what used to be the ‘Bond Street of the North’ – a largely unsuccessful effort in the late 1990s and early 2000s to promote an upmarket retail offer around Market Street and Grainger Street as part of the Grainger Town Project. These days, the area seems to be finally finding a niche for itself, housing specialist retailers for whom Northumberland Street or Eldon Square is too expensive, the Monument quarter too upmarket, and the Clayton Street area too value focused.

Former Blacks, Market Street, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

The rate of retail turnover in that part of the city centre has been occasionally nausea inducing, however, thanks in part to the outdoor chain Blacks. In just over four years, it has managed to relocate a Millets into a former Blacks, over the road from the new Maplin; closed down that new Millets in late 2009, after just a year; opened a new Millets around the corner in October 2010, only to close it and rebrand as Blacks three months later; and vacated the site completely earlier this year.

Start Cycles sign in former Blacks, Market Street, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

However, a sign in the window indicating that Start Cycles will be ‘opening soon’ suggests that the ex-Blacks won’t be empty for long, though it’s not clear whether this will mean a relocation for the existing Start Cycles store in the ex-Kookai unit two doors away, or whether its existing three Start-branded shops in the street just aren’t enough for the apparently thriving Cramlington-based company.

Meanwhile, with its strong brand, consistently healthy profits and growing strength as a multichannel retailer, Maplin will hopefully stick around for a long time – bringing some stability to a turbulent corner of Newcastle city centre, and providing a quality anchor around which other retail specialists, both multiple and independent, can successfully cluster.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including detailed coverage of the North East. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Poster showing Victoria’s Secret at Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Newcastle is set to host one of the UK’s first branches of US lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret – if new posters around Hammerson’s Monument Mall development are to be believed.

Following the opening of the scheme’s new TK Maxx store last Thursday (28 February), posters featuring updated artist’s impressions of the development have been erected around the outside of the site. It’s no surprise that these should feature the already confirmed Jamie’s Italian and Armani Exchange (with its distinctive A|X branding), but the depiction of several high-profile new names – seemingly without any official announcement or fanfare – has understandably prompted both excitement and astonishment, not least in the ever-popular SkyscraperCity Forums.

New TK Maxx, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Hammerson’s PR machine is quirky, to say the least – as you may recall, last July it unwittingly revealed the news of Armani Exchange and Jamie’s Italian via its website ahead of time, hastily deleting the references within hours. In turn, it was slow to then confirm the Jamie’s Italian letting, even when the licensing application ensured that it was common knowledge.

This latest development is equally curious. It seems inconceivable that Hammerson would depict real retailers that it hadn’t actually signed up for the scheme – after all, that’s why artist’s impressions like this (including the previous Monument Mall versions) typically feature indicative, made-up fascias at the point where tenants are still to be confirmed.

Poster showing Hugo Boss and Victoria’s Secret at Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

On the other hand, the fact that a Newcastle shop would be only the sixth Victoria’s Secret in the UK, following its entry to the British market last year, makes it rather more worthy of celebration than is currently the case. Though its North American business features over 1,000 stores and generates an annual turnover of more than $6 billion, Victoria’s Secret only has three London stores so far (at Westfield Stratford City, Bond Street and Stansted Airport), plus two more due to open this year at Trinity Leeds and the Trafford Centre in Manchester. So, having a branch in Newcastle at such an early stage would really be quite something.

Poster showing Jamie’s Italian at Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

What of the rest of the scheme? Well, as expected, Jamie’s Italian is shown occupying the prominent, Monument-facing corner spot that was previously home to NUFC’s shop, while a name not previously mentioned – the audio specialist Bose – is pictured occupying the unit formed out of the old Blackett Street mall entrance. To date, Bose has just six standalone UK stores showcasing its full consumer product range, only two of which – at Meadowhall in Sheffield and at Manchester’s Arndale Centre – are outside the London area.

Poster showing Bose and Hugo Boss at Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Next to Bose, the inclusion of the upmarket fashion brand Hugo Boss is less of a surprise, given that the retailer’s requirement for space in Newcastle is well known following its efforts to bag the nearby unit that eventually went to The North Face. Again, however, this is the first time that Hugo Boss has been officially mentioned in relation to Monument Mall. Before that, Tyneside shoppers will seemingly be able to check out the new Hugo Boss menswear shop that the company website claims is opening at Metrocentre later this month, taking the former Cecil Gee premises at 79-81 Cameron Walk – Metrocentre tell me they know nothing about it, however.

In the next unit along, it’s not possible to make out the exact name – seemingly something like ‘-rry F’ – though it’s always possible that’s it’s just a made-up fascia for an as yet unlet unit. After that it’s Victoria’s Secret, Armani Exchange and another apparently unlet unit, currently badged under what appears to be a fictional ‘Max Cosmetics’ fascia.

Poster showing Kiehl’s at Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Next, on the Blackett Street side, is another upmarket name that hasn’t cropped up in relation to Monument Mall before: the New York-based ‘old-world apothecary’ Kiehl’s. The company already sells its products through the nearby Fenwick and Space.NK stores, but a standalone store in Newcastle would be another vote of confidence in the city centre – at present, the nearest specific Kiehl’s branches are in York and Edinburgh, both opened in the latter half of 2012.

Poster showing Kiehl’s at Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Finally, the corner unit at the junction of Blackett Street and Northumberland Street shows what appears to be a jeweller’s, but the absence of any signage suggests that this too is just indicative.

Poster showing Monument Mall, Newcastle (3 Mar 2013)

Latest view of Monument Mall development (3 Mar 2013)

So, in summary what do we know? Well, the artist’s impressions suggest that there are three units still to fill, but that Hammerson has already managed to bag Victoria’s Secret, Bose, Hugo Boss and Kiehl’s in addition to the already announced Armani Exchange and Jamie’s Italian – an astonishingly impressive line-up, if confirmed.

Indeed, the original (and now rejected) plans for a ‘flagship’ Barclays on the prime corner site just seem even more incongruous now that Hammerson’s “aspirational retail pitch” is really starting to take shape.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge, and can provide bespoke place- and sector-specific market insight. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Ponden Home, Gateshead (17 Feb 2013)

Ponden Home, the soft furnishings and accessories retailer, has opened a new shop in Gateshead town centre, taking the unit in Jackson Street that had been empty since Bonmarche closed down a year ago.

Though the letting to Ponden Home had been rumoured since before Christmas, the speed of the store’s opening is impressive. Just this time last week the shop was starting to be fitted out (below), but there was no indication of when the store would open or even what it would be; four days later, on Thursday (14 February), it was trading.

Fitting out Ponden Home, Gateshead (10 Feb 2013)

Visiting the store today, it’s easy to see how Ponden Mill’s choice of shopfit facilitates a speedy setup. The simple perimeter steel racking, though rather industrial looking by itself, is softened once it’s stacked with sheets and curtains and has a wooden fascia applied to the front columns. Bold but attractive instore signage, printed on cardboard, is also integrated with the racking system, so can be quickly installed and moved as necessary. Overall, then, it’s an inexpensive shopfit, but one that’s visually pleasing and shows off the products to good effect.

Ponden Home, Gateshead (17 Feb 2013)

The retail geeks among you will have immediately realised that Ponden Home is part of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, which also owns the fashion chain Peacocks since it bought it out of administration a year ago. Gateshead’s Peacocks, you may recall, was not among the 395 stores that were initially saved; however, EWM Group reopened it four months later.

Reflecting the fact that Bonmarche and Peacocks were previously under the same ownership, the units were originally developed (out of the old Co-op department store) with shared back areas and stockrooms, so EWM’s decision to take back the ex-Bonmarche unit for Ponden Home makes good sense. It’s also a welcome vote of confidence in Gateshead town centre, and suggests that the reopened Peacocks store is trading satisfactorily. Ponden Home, meanwhile, with its product mix of curtains, bedding and cushions, is a welcome and useful addition to the town centre’s retail offer.

Ponden Home, Gateshead (17 Feb 2013)

The empty Bonmarche store a month ago (13 Jan 2013)

Perhaps more importantly, the letting of an existing town centre unit to Ponden Mill bodes well for there being a further halo effect when the first phase of Gateshead’s Trinity Square scheme opens on Monday 20 May this year. With 240,000 sq ft of new retail and leisure space, the £150m project would be a major scheme at the best of times; as it is, it’s one of only a handful of large-scale UK retail developments to be completing in 2013, alongside a select band of others such as the (unrelated but similarly named) £350m Trinity Leeds scheme from Land Securities.

Gateshead’s Trinity Square takes shape beyond the existing Argos store (17 Feb 2013)

Despite Trinity Square’s scale – comprising a Tesco Extra, 41 other shops and leisure units, a 993-bed student village, and a nine-screen Vue cinema – anyone outside the North East could be forgiven for knowing little or nothing about the project, given the relatively limited national coverage of the scheme, even in august industry publications such as Retail Week. Perhaps the project lacks the glamour associated with schemes elsewhere? After all, it’s being developed by Tesco’s own regeneration arm, Spenhill, and its list of confirmed retail lettings to date – Greggs, Ladbrokes, Costa Coffee and Phones 4U – is hardly the stuff to set pulses racing, even if the latter two are long overdue new arrivals in Gateshead town centre.

Vue Cinema in foreground with Tesco Extra behind, Trinity Square, Gateshead (17 Feb 2013)

Even with a further 12 units shown to be ‘under negotiation’, having all the retail space let and ready for trading by 20 May seems like a big ask, though there seems little doubt that it will fill up once the cinema (opening, I suspect, a little later in 2013) and student accommodation (opening in September 2014) come on stream. It should be worth the wait, though: it’s hard to imagine where else an investment of this scale in Gateshead town centre would have come from, and there’s no doubt that the project will begin to have a transformational impact on Gateshead town centre – not just in terms of its retail and offer, but also in terms of leisure, housing and the overall nighttime economy – as successive phases open.

Indeed, while people outside the region may be unaware of Trinity Square, those of us who live or work nearby can hardly miss it – the scale of the development is truly astonishing. On West Street, the frontage facing the existing Wilkinson-anchored Interchange Centre is more or less finished, while complementary work to improve West Street’s public realm is currently underway. This should help avoid a scenario where the benefits of Trinity Square end at the development boundary. Meanwhile, on the High Street side, the steelwork for the new cinema is largely in place while the massive Tesco store is gaining its glazing and cladding.

High Street frontage of Trinity Square (10 Feb 2013)

Apart from the names confirmed to date, I believe at least several existing Gateshead retailers are looking to move from their existing locations into Trinity Square. While this may generate some unwelcome short-term voids, my expectation is that surrounding streets will get a longer-term boost from the town’s improved standing as a retail and leisure destination, encouraged by the scheme’s physical connections to the surrounding streets.

Ponden Home, hopefully, will be just the first of many interesting new arrivals on Gateshead’s established retail pitches as Trinity Square makes its impact felt during 2013 and beyond.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including detailed coverage of the North East. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

New TK Maxx, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (10 Feb 2013)

Getting on for a year since the redevelopment of Monument Mall began, the first reconfigured store within the Hammerson-owned scheme is finally preparing to open its doors.

The development’s anchor retailer – the fashion and homewares chain TK Maxx – whose opening was originally slated for last November, will open its new 37,000 sq ft store at 9am on Thursday 28 February.

The TK Maxx signage went up at the beginning of February, and the former mall’s entrance onto Northumberland Street has been transformed into an impressive atrium access for the retailer, with escalators taking shoppers up to the store proper on the first and second floors.

How the Northumberland Street frontage of Monument Mall used to look (24 Apr 2012)

Meanwhile, the long-established TK Maxx store in the basement of Monument Mall will close its doors the day before, finally freeing up that area and the Blackett Street entrance to be redeveloped in turn.

Poster at existing TK Maxx, Monument Mall, Newcastle (10 Feb 2013)

Though all the other shops within Monument Mall closed by last April, the Blackett Street doors and escalators have had to remain in use for as long as TK Maxx has continued to trade from the basement.

Blackett Street entrance to Monument Mall, providing access to existing TK Maxx (10 Feb 2013)

However, since the news of two excellent lettings – a 9,000 sq ft Jamie’s Italian and 6,000 sq ft Armani Exchange – was finally confirmed in November, several months after Hammerson unwittingly revealed the news on its own website, no further letting updates have been forthcoming.

As work continues to complete the nine new double-height, street-facing units along Blackett Street – which are likely to be finished by the summer – it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see whether Hammerson can pull in all the names it wants for its “aspirational retail pitch”.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and market knowledge, and can provide bespoke place- and sector-specific market insight. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Clas Ohlson website (15 Feb 2013)

On the same day as the ONS has revealed an unexpected fall in UK retail sales during a snowy January, one retailer – the Swedish hardware chain Clas Ohlson – has unveiled its best monthly year-on-year sales increase at UK stores since June 2012, demonstrating the complex picture and mixed fortunes across Britain’s retail sector.

While the ONS data for January shows that UK retail sales fell 0.6% year-on-year by volume – and showed no change from January 2012 by value – Clas Ohlson UK recorded a 7% year-on-year sales uplift (in local currency) during the month, buoyed, I understand, by strong sales of winter products such as sledges and ice grippers.

Though Clas Ohlson declines to provide like-for-like sales figures in its monthly updates, the 7% increase will have come from the chain’s 12 established UK shops and, to a lesser extent, its recently launched transactional website, given that no additional physical shops were opened during the period.

Clas Ohlson store in Liverpool (10 May 2012)

Indeed, as Britain shivered in the snow, Clas Ohlson seems to have prospered from the combination of stocking the right product at the right time; having a strong campaign, across various channels, to promote its winter ranges; and having shops that are easy to get to, in busy high-street locations, at a time when travel conditions were treacherous.

Outdoor products at Clas Ohlson in Newcastle (24 Aug 2011)

Nevertheless, alongside the pivotal role of physical stores in Clas Ohlson’s UK strategy for growth, the company’s focus in 2012 was on getting its e-commerce platform up and running, which went live over here in June, having already launched successfully in Sweden and Norway.

Today’s figures for January show that while online currently accounts for only a small proportion of sales across Clas Ohlson’s four markets of Sweden, Norway, Finland and the UK – SEK 9m out of SEK 520m, or just under 2% – it is by far the area of fastest growth, and I understand that the company is “really pleased” with the performance of its UK web store so far.

Though Clas Ohlson doesn’t specify a percentage increase, or a breakdown by country, the January 2012 figure of SEK 7m in group online sales would suggest year-on-year growth of 25 to 30%. If this surge can be sustained, online will clearly account for an ever-increasing proportion of Clas Ohlson’s sales in the UK and elsewhere over the coming months.

Clas Ohlson Facebook page (15 Feb 2013)

Clas Ohlson UK’s other focus in 2012 has been on building up its social media presence off the back of its e-commerce store, its TV ad campaigns on Channels 4 and 5, and the resulting increased awareness of the Clas Ohlson brand. It seems to have worked admirably so far: Clas Ohlson UK’s Facebook Likes currently stand at 21,086, an astonishing 7,146% increase from the 291 Likes that existed when I last wrote about the company’s social media presence a year ago today, while the Twitter account has a more modest 323 Followers.

Based on its Facebook success – and the generally warm comments there from customers about its products and service – it seems that the strategy of promoting Clas Ohlson online, as well as on the high street, is having the desired effect in growing awareness and understanding of the brand. After all, each of these 21,086 people is someone who is sufficiently interested in Clas Ohlson to have subscribed to its updates, which the company can then capitalise on to keep the brand in their minds, encourage loyalty and engagement, and build sales both online and offline.

Opening of Clas Ohlson, Newcastle (24 Aug 2011)

So what might be next for Clas Ohlson in the UK? As yet, there are still no confirmed plans for the first new physical store since Newcastle’s opened back in August 2011, though the Facebook page is peppered with requests from people who wish to see stores open in locations such as York and Bristol. There’s also still scope for Clas Ohlson to launch a click-and-collect service, which isn’t currently offered but would start to tie the online and high-street stores more closely together into a multichannel operation.

In recent company reports, the line on UK store expansion has been that “Clas Ohlson sees favourable, long-term growth potential in the UK, but the rate of expansion will be adapted to prevailing market conditions. The company expects it to take time to establish the brand and position in a new market and the conversion rate, average purchase and sales are estimated to increase successively in the coming years.” In other words, Clas Ohlson is here in the UK for the duration, but it’s not going to risk the stability of the business by getting too big too soon.

However, with sales up, brand awareness on the rise, and the convenience of its store locations still seen as a big selling point, perhaps 2013-14 will be the year when Clas Ohlson starts opening stores on Britain’s high streets again.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market intelligence, including coverage of new developments and store openings. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and online marketing. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Existing Mountain Warehouse store in Scotch Street, Carlisle (13 Feb 2013)

The boss of Mountain Warehouse has told Soult’s Retail View that the chain plans to open a new, bigger store in Carlisle – despite its current store in Scotch Street being in the midst of a closing-down sale.

Since I blogged about the outdoor retailer’s Cirencester store (located in part of the town’s former Woolworths) last April, Mountain Warehouse has continued to thrive amid the challenging economic conditions. Though the stellar rate of new UK store openings has slowed a little in the last year, the business has mopped up trade in places where Blacks and Millets have exited, with new owner JD Sports having closed about 100 stores to date – or a third of the estate – since it acquired Blacks out of administration in January last year.

Closing-down Millets in Stafford (3 Feb 2013)

Another outdoor rival, the 70-store Yeomans chain, also had the disruption of a pre-pack administration to deal with in 2012, though its total store count has only shrunk slightly from the pre-administration figure, with stores such as Morpeth and Dumfries (below) among those being shed.

Closing-down Yeomans, Dumfries (27 Dec 2012)

Against this backdrop, total sales at Mountain Warehouse grew 19% to £75.1m during 2012, while the important pre-Christmas period (covering the 12 weeks to 30 December) saw an impressive like-for-like sales increase of 15%. It’s proved a profitable formula, too, with the business recording an increase in operating profit every year between 2006 and 2011.

Existing Mountain Warehouse store, Carlisle (13 Feb 2013)

So, with Mountain Warehouse performing so strongly overall, I was curious to understand the reasoning behind the closure of the four-year-old Carlisle store – which I noticed on my visit to the city a couple of days ago – and asked the chain’s founder and CEO, Mark Neale, to tell me more.

“We have a break coming up in the lease in Carlisle,” he explained, “and we decided to close because the store is a bit too small [at 1,542 sq ft], a bit too off pitch and a bit too expensive for what it is [currently being marketed at a rent of £65,000 pa].

“Basically we think we can find something better in Carlisle. If the shop was twice as big then we would live with the pitch. Or if it was 100% prime we would live with the size. Or if it was really cheap we would live with both. But it’s basically compromised in all three dimensions so we will close and hopefully line up a relocation.”

Mountain Warehouse, Penrith (13 Feb 2013)

So does the newer 6,093 sq ft Mountain Warehouse in nearby Penrith, opened next to the town’s new edge-of-centre Booths supermarket in Brunswick Road in December 2011, give more of a flavour of where Mountain Warehouse is heading in terms of future store sizes and locations? Mark Neale suggested that it does.

“As regards Penrith, we are doing a lot more edge-of-town or out-of-town sites and this store is doing really well for us.

“There’s good overlap with the Booths customer and it’s pretty visible from the road, plus the rent is sensible and the store a good size. We are hoping to do a similar one with Booths in Ulverston, for example.”

Mountain Warehouse, Hexham (1 Jan 2011)

And what about the North East, where Mountain Warehouse currently has a presence in smaller centres such as Hexham (above), Morpeth and Durham, alongside its Royal Quays and Dalton Park outlet stores? Could the recent closure of a raft of outdoor retailers in Newcastle city centre – including Tiso, Blacks, Trespass, Adventure at Freemans and, soon, Nevisport – provide an opening for a more value-focused operator to compete against the higher-end Cotswold Outdoor and LD Mountain Centre?

“We will check out Newcastle, but in general we find the big cities too expensive and too fashion-focused. We are currently focusing on market towns and county towns where the rents tend to be more affordable.”

So, in summary, while Newcastle might not be high on Mountain Warehouse’s priority list, it seems that Carlisle could look forward to some good news in the future – even if Mountain Warehouse’s departure from its current premises will mean yet another empty shop along the city’s main thoroughfare in the short term.

It’s a reminder, however, of how, in the current climate, those retailers who are expanding and doing well are well placed to shop around for the right premises and rental deals – and to take quick and decisive action where existing stores aren’t making sense in terms of location, space or cost.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, provides bespoke place- and sector-specific market insight, including coverage of Cumbria, the North East and the outdoor leisure sector. It also works with retailers nationwide to improve their stores, customer communications and online marketing. For more information, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.

Sage Business Experts website (11 Dec 2012)

As you may have seen already, I was recently recruited as a Business Expert by the well-known Newcastle-based business software and services provider Sage.

Set up towards the end of last year, the aim of the new group is to support and advise the UK business community via social media, drawing together Business Experts who “share a commitment to promoting business and enabling others to do the same.” It’s an unpaid role, and there’s no requirement for me to start plugging Sage all of a sudden, but the main thing is that it’s a great platform both for celebrating business and for championing the issues that are important to the retail sector. In previous Sage blogs, I’ve already highlighted the industry campaign to freeze business rates at a time when high-street retailers are under immense pressure, and urged businesses to ‘MOT’ their websites as one of their New Year resolutions for 2013.

Most recently, Sage asked if I could provide some tips – in no more than 500 words – on setting up a retail business, highlights of which were published on the Sage Blog yesterday. Given all that’s involved in opening a shop – from finding premises to buying stock and dealing with customers – it was a bit of a tall order, but I thought I’d focus on those aspects of business that I tend to talk and write about the most: online marketing and the customer experience.

So, what are the key things to consider when starting a retail business? Here are some thoughts…

1) Have a compelling offer

Every business needs a USP, and retail is no exception – shops that thrive are those that offer a distinctive experience, with brilliant customer service and products that people want.

2) Understand the market

Before jumping in, consider the market for the products that you want to sell. Who will the customer be? Where will they expect to buy your products – on the high street, online, or both? And who is your competition?

3) Test the water online…

Once you’ve thought about your route to market, test your idea to see how it works. Contrary to what you might think, growing numbers of today’s high street independents began as online businesses. Setting up a basic online store can be a low-risk and low-cost way of seeing whether customers love your products – before you give up the day job.

4) …or on the high street

Stockton Enterprise Arcade (11 Jul 2011)

While retail businesses can thrive exclusively online, many aspiring retailers still want the thrill and buzz of a physical shop – showcasing their creativity through their store interior and merchandising, and enjoying building face-to-face relationships with their customers.

Indeed, recent research by Sage revealed that one in five of those planning on starting a business intended to open a physical shop in the next two years. Similarly, recent figures from the Local Data Company showed that during the first half of 2012, the number of independent shops trading in Britain’s top 500 towns grew by 800 – helping offset store closures by big chains – as more and more budding shopkeepers set up on their own.

Again, don’t feel you have to make a long-term commitment straight away. In the current downturn, pop-up shops have become a popular way of testing retail concepts, and landlords are increasingly open to ideas that will avoid their properties sitting empty. Market stalls are also a quick and low-cost way of getting your retail business out there on the high street.

Alternatively, see whether your local authority has set up an Enterprise Arcade, like the one in Stockton, above – a high-street incubator for retail start-ups, typically with six months’ free rent alongside business development and marketing support.

5) Get your message out there

Once you’re up and running, it’s crucial to keep driving shoppers to your premises or website, and this is where online marketing can be a great help.

Used well – in an engaging rather than a salesy way – free tools like Twitter, Facebook or YouTube can be a fantastic means of showcasing your shop, building awareness, promoting word of mouth, and encouraging visits – all important ingredients in developing long-term success.

And that’s my 500 words used up… my fellow Sage Business Expert Rachel Parkin shared some great additional tips on opening a retail store in another Sage Blog last week, highlighting issues around location, external appearance, signage and engaging the senses, but what would be your top tips for anyone looking to open a shop? As always, feel free to share your own ideas below.

My retail consultancy business, CannyInsights.com, helps retailers with many of the tasks highlighted in this blog post, including providing market insight, critiquing websites’ appearance and usability, creating and improving web content, and helping businesses get to grips with social media. For more information on how CannyInsights.com can support your business, visit www.cannyinsights.com, drop me an email, or give me a call on (0191) 461 0361.