Soult's Retail View

Rescued for the fourth time, can Ethel Austin really have a future?

Graham Soult August 07, 2012 Brands, Fashion Stores, Property 3 Comments

Tags: Ashloch Ltd, Billingham, Bishop Auckland, Blaydon, Blyth, Byker, Chester-le-Street, Elaine McPherson, Ellie Louise, Ethel Austin, Hebburn, Lancaster, M&Co, Mike Basso, Peacocks, Reading, Redcar, Ricli Limited, South Shields, Stockton-on-Tees, Store Twenty One, Sue Townsend, Usdaw, Wallsend, Wombwell

Former Ethel Austin site, Wallsend (30 Jul 2012)

When value clothing retailer Ethel Austin fell into administration for the fourth time in as many years three weeks ago, it’s fair to say that its chances of surviving again were not highly rated.

Indeed, the headline in … Continue Reading

Heron Foods launches new website and plots further expansion

Graham Soult May 18, 2012 Online, Supermarkets, Supply Chain, Woolworths No Comments

Tags: Ashington, Barnard Castle, Chester-le-Street, Cockerton Green, Darlington, Felling, Gateshead, Grangetown, Heron Foods, Hillsborough, Leam Lane, Longbenton, Middlesbrough, Newton Aycliffe, North Shields, Richmond, Sacriston, Stanley, Walker, Wallsend, Woolworths

New Heron Foods website (18 May 2012)

Heron Foods, the Hull-based discount supermarket chain, has launched a new website as it takes its first steps into cyberspace.

Described by Retail Week in 2009 as one of “retail’s best kept secrets”, Heron Foods has traditionally kept a low profile, eschewing a web presence – other than … Continue Reading

Oops! Tesco’s Gateshead mailout sends customers to Poundland

Graham Soult April 13, 2012 Property, Shopping Centres, Supermarkets, Variety Stores 6 Comments

Tags: Asda, Asda Supermarket, Birtley, Blaydon, Chester-le-Street, Gateshead, Heron Foods, Home Bargains, Iceland, Kingston Park, Kwik Save, Morrisons, Poundland, Sainsbury's, Team Valley, Tesco

Tesco Gateshead mailout (13 Apr 2012)

Ahead of the Gateshead superstore’s closure on 22 April, Tesco has mailed details of its temporary store to local customers – but they may have trouble finding it using the map provided.

While the leaflet gives the correct address for the former Kwik Save premises, the attached map locates the store on … Continue Reading

Birtley’s ex-Netto Co-operative Food – shiny, but still a Co-op

Graham Soult February 29, 2012 Co-operatives, Property, Supermarkets 3 Comments

Tags: Asda, Birtley, Chester-le-Street, Iceland, Morrisons, Netto, Somerfield, Tesco, The Co-operative Food, The Co-operative Pharmacy, UGO

The Co-operative Food, Birtley (28 Feb 2012)

Travelling back from Chester-le-Street yesterday, I was finally able to visit – and do a shop in – The Co-operative Food store in Birtley, which opened back in October.

Regular readers will recall that the store was formerly a Netto, but fell within the … Continue Reading

B&M Bargains heads to Burton – but where next?

Graham Soult February 25, 2011 Property, Shopping Centres, Variety Stores, Woolworths 5 Comments

Tags: B&M Bargains, Bargoed, Big W, BrightHouse, Burton upon Trent, Chester-le-Street, Clayton Street, Coopers Square, Lichfield, Life & Style, Newcastle, Portrack Lane, Poundstretcher, Stockton-on-Tees, Swansea, The Local Data Company, The Original Factory Shop, Whitley Bay, Woolworths

B&M fascia

Many thanks to Lee Dymond and Martin, who both emailed me about the news of B&M Bargains opening in the former Woolworths store in Burton, Staffordshire. As I mentioned last month, the 11,000 sq ft Coopers Square unit has remained empty since Woolworths’ closure more than two years ago, but this … Continue Reading

Haldanes not ruling out purchase of “great” Netto Birtley store

Graham Soult January 25, 2011 Property, Supermarkets 3 Comments

Tags: Aldi, Asda, Birtley, Chester-le-Street, Gateshead, Haldanes, Iceland, Lidl, Morrisons, Netto, Richard Collins, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Team Valley, Tesco, UGO

Netto, Birtley (24 Jan 2011)

When Asda’s sale of 39 surplus Netto stores was announced a couple of weeks ago, I noted that Birtley – a small town close to here, within the Borough of Gateshead – was home to one of the eight remaining Netto stores that Asda is still required to divest by the OFT.

As … Continue Reading

From Stanley to Spennymoor – another gallery of North East former Woolies stores

Graham Soult June 04, 2010 Property, Retail History, Woolworths 14 Comments

Tags: B&M Bargains, Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Gateshead, Morpeth, Newton Aycliffe, Next, Peterlee, Spennymoor, Stanley, Store Twenty One, The Original Factory Shop, Woolworths

Former Woolworths, Peterlee (12 March 2010)

Only counting the (33) North East Woolworths stores that closed down following the company’s 2008 administration, my quest to photograph the full set is nearing completion – with five more new ones featured in this post, only Berwick, Billingham and Stockton’s Portrack Lane are left to get.

However, the ever-expanding list of … Continue Reading

The fight to be Woolworths’ heir

Graham Soult January 08, 2010 Brands, Independent Stores, Marketing, Online, Variety Stores, Woolworths 2 Comments

Tags: Alworths, Andy Latham, Chester-le-Street, Claire Robertson, Matthew Hardcastle, Shop Direct, Wellworths, Woolworths, Woolworths.co.uk

Shop Direct's Woolworths.co.uk

Just a quick post this evening, but I wanted to flag up a well-written and interesting article by Kiran Stacey in yesterday’s Financial Times, entitled “The fight to be Woolworths’ heir”.

The piece covers some of the same themes as my own blog posts about Wellworths, Alworths and … Continue Reading

Woolies Winter Wonderland…

Graham Soult January 04, 2010 Property, Retail History, Shopping Centres, Woolworths 15 Comments

Tags: Alfreton, Amber Value, Big W, Burton upon Trent, Chester-le-Street, Coopers Square, Derby, Dumfries, Heanor, Lighthouse Charity Shop, M&S, Marks & Spencer, Ripley, Tamworth, TJ Hughes, Ventura Park, Westfield, Westfield Derby

Shot from 1998 'Woolies Winter Wonderland' TV ad

…That was the theme of Woolworths’ 1998 Christmas TV advertisement, in the heady, Tellytubby days when, as the ad reminds us, everyone wanted a Talking Po.

This festive season, the incessant snow and ice has certainly made it a Winter Wonderland in the various town centres that I visited. However, 2009 has, of course, been the first Christmas without Woolies on the … Continue Reading

Vergo Retail – the saviour of unloved Co-op department stores?

Graham Soult July 23, 2009 Brands, Co-operatives, Department Stores, Independent Stores, Retail History 9 Comments

Tags: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bishop Auckland, Blyth, Chester-le-Street, Clacton, Co-op, Co-operative Group, Colchester, department store, Derrys, Dovercourt, Felixstowe, Gateshead, Great Yarmouth, Hexham, House of Fraser, Ipswich, Joplings, Lewis's, Murton's, Newcastle, Norwich, Owen Owen, Plymouth, Robbs, Sheffield, Stanway, Stowmarket, Sunderland, Tamworth, Vergo Retail, Westgate Department Stores, Witham

Co-op Department Store, Great Yarmouth, prior to Vergo Retail’s takeover. Photograph by Stephen McKay

In the last couple of weeks, one interesting news story that has been easy to miss is the takeover of the East of England Co-op’s department store business by Vergo Retail.

Vergo Retail, as you may be aware, is the Liverpool-based operation headed by David Thompson that, in 2007, rescued Lewis’s of Liverpool, Joplings of Sunderland and Robbs of Hexham from the … Continue Reading

Soult's Retail View

Rescued for the fourth time, can Ethel Austin really have a future?

Heron Foods launches new website and plots further expansion

Oops! Tesco’s Gateshead mailout sends customers to Poundland

Birtley’s ex-Netto Co-operative Food – shiny, but still a Co-op

B&M Bargains heads to Burton – but where next?

Haldanes not ruling out purchase of “great” Netto Birtley store

From Stanley to Spennymoor – another gallery of North East former Woolies stores

The fight to be Woolworths’ heir

Woolies Winter Wonderland…

Vergo Retail – the saviour of unloved Co-op department stores?

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