Soult's Retail View

Primark, Newcastle (30 Oct 2012)

The outside of Newcastle’s enlarged Primark is finally starting to gain its funky cladding, as the Northumberland Street store gets ready for its planned opening.

Since I last updated on the project at the end of July, the exterior of the building has changed … Continue Reading

L’Occitane en Provence, Eldon Square, Newcastle (25 Sep 2012)

L’Occitane en Provence, the high-end beauty products retailer, will open its Newcastle store on 25 October.

When news of the new Eldon Square store was revealed last month, it was expected to open in September – indeed, that’s what … Continue Reading

L’Occitane shop in Mestni trg, Ljubljana, Slovenia (26 Jul 2011)

L’Occitane en Provence, the upmarket beauty products retailer, is to open a standalone shop in Newcastle’s Eldon Square next month.

Details of the September store opening – which were … Continue Reading

Leslie Jones Architecture’s render of Eldon Square’s Northumberland Street entrance

Plans to be officially unveiled later this week reveal that the Northumberland Street entrance to Newcastle’s Eldon Square shopping centre is set to undergo a massive makeover.

The planning application for the … Continue Reading

Clintons fascia

Yesterday’s news that Lakeshore Lending Limited, a subsidiary of card manufacturer and supplier American Greetings, has bought the brands and assets of Clinton Cards – including 397 of its stores and 4,500 employees – comes as little surprise.

Having secured control of £35m ($56m) of Clintons’ secured debt a month ago – the move that … Continue Reading

Thorntons, Grainger Street, Newcastle (9 Apr 2012)

While Newcastle’s BHS prepares for its imminent opening, new departures elsewhere in the city are set to open up other opportunities for incoming retailers.

As … Continue Reading

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

Trinity Square, Gateshead (18 Dec 2011)

It may have taken over a year to get started following the Get Carter car park’s demolition, but building work at Gateshead’s Trinity Square is now proceeding apace.

Construction of the £150m development only … Continue Reading

Closing-down poster at Newgate Street Co-op, Newcastle (2 Dec 2011)

Newcastle city centre’s Co-op supermarket is to close down this month, bringing to an end nearly a century-and-a-half of Co-operative presence in Newgate Street. Posters in the windows and instore – which I spotted while passing by yesterday – reveal that the store will ‘cease trading as a Co-operative’ at 6pm on New Year’s Eve (31 … Continue Reading

Upcoming Urban Outfitters, Newcastle (29 Nov 2011)

Newcastle’s upcoming Urban Outfitters store has been tantalisingly hidden behind orange boards for over a month – including when I passed by last week – but the shop’s frontage has now been unwrapped ahead of its opening a week on Friday (9 December).

While we’ve … Continue Reading

The North Face, Newcastle (29 Oct 2011)

The Californian outdoor brand The North Face has opened its new store in Newcastle in the last few days – though you could easily be forgiven for not realising.

The shop, at 9-15 Blackett Street, seems to have opened with little fanfare. As yet, its details don’t show up on … 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

Habitat, Bristol (22 Feb 2011)

It’s hard to dispute that the last couple of weeks has been a torrid time for the UK high street, with a succession of well-known names either announcing bad news or collapsing into administration.

While HMV has a stay of execution for now, other retailers in that section of the alphabet – Habitat, … Continue Reading

New Next, Newcastle (14 Apr 2011)

The timescale may have slipped a little from the original April target – which is still being proclaimed by the external hoardings – but I understand that Next is now expecting to open its 55,000 sq ft Newcastle flagship store on or around Thursday 12 May.

I dropped by to check on progress yesterday morning, and … Continue Reading

New Next, Newcastle (23 Feb 2011)

Work has been underway on Newcastle’s former Arcadia site for the best part of a year, as the space is transformed into a 55,000 sq ft Next store. Like the old Topshop store that it replaces, Next will have … Continue Reading

John Lewis Oxford Street, London

Given how long it’s been since the weekly trading figures for John Lewis department stores last recorded a year-on-year fall in sales, it’s little wonder that the 2.2% sales drop announced today seems to be … 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

Primark fascia

MetroCentre’s empty Woolworths site is poised to get a new occupant, according to the mall’s majority owners, and is set to be trading by the middle of next year.

Capital Shopping Centres’ interim management statement for the period 1 July to 3 November 2010, released last week, reveals that “a major value fashion anchor is close to exchange in the former Woolworths store at MetroCentre, Gateshead, with a target opening … Continue Reading

Clas Ohlson fascia

I’m not sure whether Clas Ohlson’s people are reading this blog, or whether – more likely – the obvious locations for new UK stores are fairly easy to identify.

Either way, I was interested to spot that the Swedish retailer has this week signed contracts for new stores in shopping centres in Cardiff and Norwich – following on from … Continue Reading

Entrance to Green Market, Newcastle

Since I broke the story, in January, official confirmation of the closure of Newcastle’s Green Market at High Friars has been rather slow in coming. Even back then, I argued that “the lack of any coverage – or perhaps even awareness – of what appears to be the current Green Market’s impending closure is surprising.” 

As I … Continue Reading