Soult's Retail View

La Senza closing down in Newcastle (2 Jan 2012)

Since this is my first post of 2012, I must begin by wishing all Soult’s Retail View readers a very Happy New Year! Thank you to everyone who has commented, emailed, tweeted or visited during 2011, and I hope you will find many more posts to spark your interest during 2012.

As we enter 2012, the retail picture … Continue Reading

New BHS Newcastle site (28 Dec 2011)

Work on the new BHS store in Newcastle has been underway for more than six months, though the lack of any mention of BHS on site meant that anyone passing by would have been none the wiser about what exactly was happening. This always seemed … Continue Reading

Soon-to-open Superdry, Durham (16 Nov 2011)

Superdry – the SuperGroup-owned fashion chain of the moment – is gearing up to open its new store in Durham’s Silver Street at 9am this coming Friday (18 November), though the shop was still under wraps when I went past this morning.

By opening in the midst of the Durham Lumiere festival – which runs from 17-20 November, and attracts … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now temporary BHS), Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

If you saw my earlier post about the shiny new BHS in Swindon, you might be wondering what happened to the retailer during the 18-month period that its old store was being redeveloped. Well, rather … Continue Reading

New BHS, Swindon (11 Sep 2011)

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

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

3DReid's proposal for the remodelled Primark/ex-BHS building

Interesting retail things always seem to happen on Tyneside while I’m on holiday! This time, I returned from Slovenia yesterday – hence the lack of recent blog posts – to find that the planning application for Newcastle’s new Primark flagship has been submitted while I’ve been away.

While the news of Primark’s … Continue Reading

How the new BHS will look. Image by Dalziel & Pow

Plans for Northumberland Street’s new BHS store have been submitted to Newcastle City Council, and propose a more radical than expected transformation of the … Continue Reading

New Next, Newcastle (10 May 2011)

I had a quick wander around Newcastle city centre today, where the new Next flagship store is gearing up for its opening at 11am this Thursday (12 May).

Barriers around the outside of the building mean that it’s still quite difficult to get a look inside. However, all the new glazing and … Continue Reading

Queen's Parade frontage of former Woolworths, Hartlepool (4 May 2011)

As I briefly noted last week, Middlesbrough’s ex-Woolworths store isn’t the only one on Teesside to have recently found a new occupant. At the end of March, it was reported that Hartlepool’s … Continue Reading

Northumberland Street, Newcastle (14 Mar 2011)

I took advantage of today’s gorgeous weather, and the fact that I was in town anyway, to capture some shots of Newcastle’s Northumberland Street before the quite significant changes to its retail tenants get underway next month.

I’m always conscious of taking relatively few … Continue Reading

Trinity Leeds logo (21 Jan 2011)

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

After a one-year hiatus caused by … Continue Reading

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

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

In November last year, the early … Continue Reading

Closing down sale at BHS Newcastle (14 Jan 2011)

Newcastle’s iconic Northumberland Street is set to see its most dramatic retail shake-up since the departure of C&A and Littlewoods more than a decade ago.

The BHS store is currently holding a closing down sale, and will shut its doors for good in three weeks’ time. The retailer has traded from its present … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths, Coalville (24 Aug 2010)

Regular readers of Soult’s Retail View will know that I have something of a penchant for visiting lots of old Woolworths stores in a short time, usually – for better or worse – by bus.

Back in August, I took the opportunity to undertake another such jaunt, bringing in 11 former Woolies sites … Continue Reading

Mall plan showing Peacocks (screenshot from 4 Aug 2010)

I was interested to find out a few days ago that the fashion retailer Peacocks will soon be opening a store in my old home town of Tamworth, taking a prime spot within the town centre’s Ankerside mall.

Given that jobs in the store have been being advertised since June, and with the store … Continue Reading

Job ad for Wallis in Hexham

Delivering on its promise to bring quality concessions to its recently acquired Robbs of Hexham store, it seems that Beales has already signed up the Arcadia-owned womenswear brand Wallis.

A job ad has gone live today[broken link removed], advertising the “fantastic opportunity for Sales Advisers and Senior Sales Advisers to join our brand new … Continue Reading

Bhs in Newcastle. Photograph by Graham Soult

Its interior may be somewhat dowdy, but I do have a soft spot for Newcastle’s Bhs store, in Northumberland Street.

True, the fashionability of some of the menswear is questionable, with colours and styles that are clearly aimed at an older clientele. However, the retailer’s introduction of trendier sub-brands – such as Trait and Atlantic Bay – aimed at a younger, more fashion conscious market, have … Continue Reading

Next, Northumberland Street, Newcastle (5 Feb 2010)

Following the apparent confirmation of earlier rumours about Next planning to open a new store in Newcastle’s Eldon Square shopping centre next year, it seems timely to take a look at the retailer’s current Northumberland Street premises, shown above.

It’s quite a handsome building when … Continue Reading

Hollister's website, including the '1922' device

I can’t claim to know much about Abercrombie & Fitch’s sister brand, Hollister, and if I did, I suspect it’s somewhere that might be outside of both my price and age brackets. To be fair though, Hollister’s presence in the UK is pretty new – the first store, at Brent Cross, opened only last year – with … Continue Reading

Newcastle's Zavvi store in happier times. Photograph by Mankind 2k

When I remarked a couple of weeks ago that Newcastle’s “Monument Mall would surely welcome the arrival of a strong anchor store” following the closure of Zavvi, a potential new branch of Barclays Bank was not exactly what I had envisaged.

Today’s Journal reports that “some … Continue Reading