Point-of-sale promotion of the Asda Price Guarantee

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

While the increase in product lines and instore services is one of Asda’s selling points at its converted Netto sites, another is its pledge that “all newly converted Netto stores will charge the same low price as every other Asda in the UK.” This means that smaller Asda Supermarket sites, just like their full-size counterparts, are covered by the much publicised Asda Price Guarantee: the company’s pledge to be “10% cheaper on your comparable grocery shopping” than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons or Waitrose.

Asda Supermarket, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

At the same time as I was checking out the Gateshead store’s new look, Asda challenged me to carry out a £50 shop instore – to put the Price Guarantee to the test, as well as seeing whether it really was possible to do a full weekly shop in a compact Asda. So, how did I get on?

My shopping list

Coffee at Asda Supermarket, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

To make the test as real as possible, I prepared a shopping list comprising many of the items that I buy on a regular basis and needed to buy anyway, including fresh fruit and veg, storecupboard items (e.g. olive oil, coffee, baked beans), crisps and nuts, household items (e.g. handwash, toilet rolls), frozen foods, cat food and wine, as well as ingredients for that evening’s dinner (sausage and mash).

A couple of qualifiers

Asda billboard, Gateshead (26 Jun 2011)

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not usually an Asda shopper, but in the supermarkets I do visit – mainly Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Aldi – I tend to go for own-brands over branded products. The ‘comparable grocery shopping’ proviso of the Price Guarantee reflects the fact that while it’s easy to compare the price of branded products in different supermarkets, own-brand comparisons are more tricky due to variations in pack size, ingredients or other characteristics. To ensure that my shop included as many comparable items as possible, I was therefore prepared to buy a few more branded items than would usually be the case.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the shop took place on 6 August; inevitably, all the prices and offers that I mention can only ever be a snapshot of that particular day, and may well have changed – up or down – since. All the photos are from two days later, when I returned to the store – unladen with shopping – for a more detailed look around.

Finding what I wanted… and a few other things

Pesto at Asda Supermarket, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

By and large, I was able to find everything on my list, though I did have to make a few substitutions where my chosen brand wasn’t available. For example, I couldn’t find any Pears handwash, so bought a similar Baylis & Harding product (£2) instead. I couldn’t see any Sacla green pesto either, so decided to abandon the pesto rather than opt for the slightly cheap-looking Asda own-brand alternatives.

Handwash at Asda Supermarket, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

In some other categories – such as meat sausages, vegetarian sausages, redcurrant jelly and, more surprisingly, potatoes – the options instore were a little bit limited, and you might well choose to go to a larger store if you were after a wider range or particular brands. On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine that the old Netto on the site would have sold vegetarian sausages or redcurrant jelly at all.

Belvoir Elderflower Pressé at Asda Supermarket, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

Alongside the items I planned to buy, I was also tempted by a few of the offers that grabbed my attention instore. Mr Muscle Window & Glass Cleaner (500 ml) for £1 seemed like a great deal, as did Belvoir Elderflower Pressé (75 cl) at two for £3.50 (compared to £2.20 for one) and Taylors of Harrogate coffee at two for £5 (instead of £3.28 each). The branded wines (Blossom Hill at £5 and Echo Falls at £4) also seemed keenly priced.

Finally, my cat, Sebastian, did well out of the shop too, with the price for Iams (£3 for 1kg) looking very attractive compared to what I normally pay.

In total, my shop comprised 38 different products, and came to £68.77 once the ‘two-for’ discounts were deducted.

Wanting to enter the details of my shop online… but not until tomorrow

Asda Price Guarantee website welcome screen (6 Aug 2011)

Watching the rather cheesy TV ad for the Asda Price Guarantee, you can be forgiven for thinking that all you need to do is arrive home, gather the other mums around, and immediately start comparing each others’ receipts.

The reality is a little less exciting, especially as you have to wait until at least 6am the morning after you shopped before inputting your details at the Asda Price Guarantee website. At the moment, neither the receipt nor the Price Guarantee website homepage flags up that you can’t compare your prices straight away; it’s only mentioned once you reach the ‘Enter your receipt details’ page via the welcome screen’s ’Enter Receipt’ button.

This, I would have thought, has potential to cause disappointment and annoyance, yet would be easily remedied by changing the receipts to read “Check your receipt online from 6am tomorrow at…” instead of the current “Check your receipt online at…”

Putting the Price Guarantee to the test… and interrogating the data

My shop *is* 10% cheaper (7 Aug 2011)

Needless to say, I waited with baited breath until the following morning when – finally – I could enter and check the details of my shop, a process that is clearly explained and takes just thirty seconds or so to complete. So, was my comparable shop 10% cheaper than it would have been at Asda’s competitors? Yes, it was, as the results screen above happily declared.

How my shop compared (7 Aug 2011)

Given the prominence of the ’10% Cheaper’ promise within the Asda Price Guarantee, I found it a little strange that the main results screen showed the difference between my Asda shop and the equivalent elsewhere in terms of actual money saved, rather than percentage. Hence, I could see (above) that my comparable items would have cost £8.87 more at Tesco or £6.62 more at Morrisons, but beyond knowing that the saving must be at least 10%, the precise percentage difference was not made clear.

Another thing that immediately struck me was the fact that I’d apparently saved £7.61 compared to Waitrose, but £8.87 compared to Tesco. Did this mean that Waitrose was cheaper than Tesco for the items I’d bought? Actually, no, it didn’t at all.

Receipt comparison details: Asda vs Tesco (7 Aug 2011)

For each of the other supermarkets, clicking the ‘View details’ link brought up a more detailed, item-by-item price comparison. Pleasingly, only three of the 38 items I bought turned out not to be comparable with any of the other supermarkets, a much smaller number than I expected.

The store-by-store breakdown showed that while the Price Guarantee had been able to compare 31 of my 38 different items against Tesco, it had managed to compare 29 against Sainsbury’s, 28 against Morrisons, and only 23 against Waitrose. If you’re interested in the full detail, I’ve created a PDF (Table 1) that shows the price comparisons for all the items that I bought.

In other words, the headline saving of £8.87 against Tesco was based on comparable items costing £54.27 at Asda. In contrast, the headline saving of £7.61 against Waitrose was based on a much smaller comparable basket, costing £39.89 at Asda. Hence, while it’s fine to compare the headline figures for any one of the other supermarkets with Asda, it’s not fair to compare those competitors with each other, simply because the basket sizes being compared are all different.

Tesco store, Gateshead (18 Jun 2010)

Asda would probably point out, of course, that the whole point of the Price Guarantee is only to compare its own prices with those of competitors, and that it doesn’t claim to compare, say, Tesco against Waitrose or Tesco against Morrisons. That’s fine, but I wonder how many other shoppers would have drawn the same initial Tesco vs Waitrose conclusion as I did from those headline figures?

Certainly, it’s another reason why it would make more sense for the initial results page to show the percentage savings relative to Asda’s competitors, rather than actual cost savings that have potential to confuse. Currently, however, the actual percentage savings against the other supermarkets are not stated anywhere in the results – I had to work them out myself by copying and pasting the data into Excel.

Morrisons came closest to beating the Price Guarantee

This is surprising, as in my case, at least, the statement that “Your comparable grocery shopping is 10% cheaper than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose” actually underplayed the true extent of the saving. In percentage terms, Morrisons came closest to beating the Asda Price Guarantee, where I saved ‘only’ 12.2% by shopping at Asda. Tesco was next best (14% cheaper at Asda) followed by Waitrose (16%) and finally – perhaps surprisingly – Sainsbury’s (16.1%). Again, my PDF shows the detailed data from which I calculated these percentages.

Taking the impulse buys out of my comparison

Iams at Asda Supermarket, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

As I noted above, there were quite a few items in Asda that I bought on impulse because they seemed like really great deals. It turned out, for example, that the £3 bag of Iams was £1.41 cheaper in Asda than its nearest competitor (Sainsbury’s), and a full £2.50 cheaper than Waitrose [see full breakdown]. While great for me, as the customer, including such items in the test inevitably gives Asda a head start in meeting its ’10% cheaper’ pledge.

So, what happens if I exclude those impulse purchases from the comparison and just test the Price Guarantee on the items on my shopping list? Well, Asda still came out top, but obviously by a bit less than before:

• 5.9% cheaper than Morrisons on my comparable shopping-list items
• 7.8% cheaper than Tesco
• 10.1% cheaper than Sainsbury’s
• 10.3% cheaper than Waitrose.

I’ve prepared a second PDF (Table 2), which makes clear the items that I excluded from each comparison. Again, bear in mind that the percentages above are only really meaningful in terms of comparing Asda to each of its competitors, not the competitors with each other.

Testing the data a third way 

Of the five supermarkets, Waitrose was cheapest on the fewest items

Having established that Asda was indeed cheapest across both my entire shop and the shopping-list items, I thought it would be interesting to look at which of the five supermarkets was cheapest on a product-by-product basis. You can see the results of my analysis in a third PDF (Table 3).

For each of the 35 comparable products that I bought, I ranked the five stores 1 to 5, where 1 was the cheapest supermarket and 5 was the most expensive. If two or more stores tied for the cheapest price, then both were ranked 1. If a product was only available at, say, three of the five stores, then I ranked these 1 to 3. So, which supermarket came out best by this measure?

Impressively, Asda ranked #1 for price on nearly two-thirds (23, or 66%) of the 35 comparable items that I bought, and was #2 on all but two others. Only the iceberg lettuce (cheaper at both Tesco and Morrisons) and the McCoy’s crisps (cheaper at Tesco and Sainsbury’s) let the side down.

Of Asda’s competitors, Tesco ranked #1 on 13 (i.e. 42%) of the 31 comparable items that I bought, while Morrisons was close behind with #1 ranks on 11 (39%) of 28 comparable items.

In contrast, Sainsbury’s (#1 on 7 (24%) of 29 comparable items) and Waitrose (#1 on just 4 (17%) of 23 products) performed least well by this criterion.

Conclusions

Self-service checkouts, Asda Supermarket, Gateshead (8 Aug 2011)

My test has exposed a few ways in which the Asda Price Guarantee website could potentially be improved, most notably in signposting the overnight wait more clearly, and in limiting scope for misinterpretation by presenting the headline savings against Asda’s competitors in percentage rather than cash terms. Where Asda is significantly more than 10% cheaper, as it was in my case, it also seems odd for this to be underplayed.

These quibbles aside, the Asda Price Guarantee is clearly a worthwhile and quite fun tool that is relatively easy for customers to use, and that helps Asda makes its point about price.

Whichever way you look at it, it’s also hard to dispute that I got a good deal by carrying out my weekly shop at Asda. The Price Guarantee’s ’10% cheaper’ pledge worked as promised – even in a small-format Asda Supermarket – and the analysis of my particular shopping basket, using my three different methods, seems to demonstrate the keenness of Asda’s prices relative to its competitors. Value is, and always has been, a key componenent of the Asda offer, and the Price Guarantee helps to ensure that Asda’s price credentials are widely understood among shoppers.

Herein, however, lies the problem. If Asda is indeed the cheapest of the big grocers, and shoppers recognise this, why is it continuing to lose market share?

Aldi and Lidl continue to gain

Could it be that in bigging up its Price Guarantee, Asda is actually attacking the wrong target? Look at the latest Kantar Worldpanel data, and the big gainers continue to be Aldi (with annual sales growth of 24.4%), Lidl (up 13.8%) and Waitrose. As Tesco and Asda slip, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose have each recorded record market shares of 3.6%, 2.6% and 4.3% respectively.

My analysis indicates that Waitrose struggles to compete with Asda on price – but no-one would really expect otherwise. Shoppers love Waitrose for the customer service, the pleasant store environment and the quality products that you simply can’t get anywhere else.

Meanwhile, Aldi and Lidl win no awards for their store interiors, but the shopping experience is quick and efficient, and the stores are thriving as shoppers discover own-brand products that are eyecatchingly cheap yet surprisingly high in quality. A Price Guarantee based on ‘comparable’ items is therefore slightly undermined when shoppers are increasingly buying exclusive and ‘incomparable’ products from Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose.

Price is important, of course – especially in economically challenging times – but so is the quality of the products and the overall shopping experience. Asda, I would argue, needs to focus increasing attention on these last two factors.

One of Tesco's discount brands

Tesco’s reaction to the rise of Aldi and Lidl was to launch its own Discounter range, which worked for a while but came across as desperate, and muddied the chain’s “good, better, best” own-label strategy. Asda, wisely, has avoided such a confused approach, opting instead to highlight the price credentials of its existing ranges through the Price Guarantee.

Crucially, Asda has also started to recognise that the quality of its own mid-tier brands – or, at least, customers’ perceptions of the quality – is one of the areas where it is weakest relative to its competitors, and where Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose all present a threat. Asda’s response has manifested itself in the ‘Chosen by You’ label, launched last year, though extending the brand to too many categories – such as refuse sacks – does risk undermining any potential benefits.

Large Asda at Gateshead's Metrocentre (31 Mar 2010)

However, even once it’s convinced potential customers of its keen prices or improved quality products, Asda needs to keep getting more of those customers through the doors – possibly a bigger hurdle than you might think.

Chatting to my friends and colleagues about retail, as I have a habit to do, their first reaction to Asda often relates to it being a busy, stressful and unpleasant shopping experience – a point that I’ve previously made myself in relation to the vast Metrocentre store at the opposite end of Gateshead. It’s hard to know how widely-held this view is, but it’s a factor that drives at least some shoppers elsewhere.

If that’s the case, the small-format Asda Supermarket model may have unintended benefits. As I remarked after my visit to the new Gateshead store, there is something rather nice about shopping in an Asda that is attractively laid out and isn’t overwhelmingly large and busy. Could this, as much as the range and convenience, account for the converted Netto stores’ apparent uplift in sales to date?

If it is, it may well be through the growth of the Asda Supermarket format – rather than the traditional sheds, packed with non-food – that Asda succeeds in turning around its shrinking market share.

Rear of former Woolworths, MetroCentre (25 Mar 2011)

I was at Metrocentre yesterday, and noted that work seems to be progressing well on Primark’s redevelopment of the former Woolworths unit.

Though Primark’s relocation from its existing ex-Littlewoods unit had been rumoured for the best part of a year, the news was only confirmed in January. The new store is set to occupy 74,500 sq ft – seemingly larger than originally suggested – incorporating the former Woolworths site, some extra adjacent space, and the new 15,000 sq ft rear extension that was granted planning permission last May.

Though there’s nothing new to be seen from the boarded-off mall side, the rear of the store looks like it’s being prepared in readiness for the extension. The old Woolies signage has gone, along with all the brick cladding, exposing the steel frame underneath.

...and a similar view three months ago (14 Dec 2011)

As far as I’m aware, no opening date for the new Primark has been confirmed. Back in November, Capital Shopping Centres’ interim management statement for the period 1 July to 3 November 2010 suggested that the then-unnamed “major value fashion anchor” on the former Woolworths site had “a target opening of July 2011″. However, given the amount of work still to do, this now seems unrealistic.

Primark’s rather rudimentary website is little help either. Though there’s a ‘Future Stores’ link from the homepage, the map that it directs to doesn’t show any future stores at all, while the site’s ‘News Stories’ section hasn’t been updated since October. Primark does have a reputation for hiding its light under a bushel as far as PR and the media is concerned, but it always surprises me that one of the UK’s most talked about retail businesses has such an underwhelming web presence.

Next’s extension and redevelopment of a slightly smaller space in Newcastle’s Eldon Square – set to open next month – has taken the best part of a year, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Primark’s target is to be open in time for Christmas 2011. Something tells me that Tyneside shoppers will flock to the store whenever it opens, regardless of how much – or little – information we’re fed in the meantime.

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 site for decades, apart from a short absence for rebuilding in the early 1970s.

1930s postcard of BHS, Northumberland Street, Newcastle

However, a member of staff told me that BHS will be reopening further along the street in October, taking over the premises that will be vacated by Next when it moves into Eldon Square later this spring. In turn, the staff member revealed that Primark next door is set to expand its existing premises into the space freed up by BHS, doubling the size of its current store.

Current Next - and soon to be BHS - in Northumberland Street, Newcastle (5 Feb 2010)

The news brings to an end speculation about which retailer would move onto the current Next site. Though the premises are smaller than the present BHS, the move means that Newcastle will become one of the first locations to benefit from a modern, new-concept BHS store, as first unveiled at the Chimes shopping centre in Uxbridge in May last year.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Primark store is further demonstration of the retailer’s continued success both on Tyneside and in the country as a whole, coming just weeks after its plans to open a flagship 60,000 sq ft store at MetroCentre – on the former Woolworths site – were confirmed.

Site of new Next, Newcastle (14 Jan 2011)

Arguably, there’s a slight sense of disappointment that Next’s move isn’t going to see an exciting new retailer moving into Northumberland Street. On the other hand, it can only be a good thing for Newcastle city centre that its BHS, Primark and Next stores will be among the most impressive and up to date in the UK.

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 of July 2011.”

It continues: “Along with the opening in September [2010] of the first combined TK Maxx/Homesense store [as blogged about here], this would enhance CSC’s anchor store strategy for the centre.”

Former Woolworths at MetroCentre (5 Oct 2009)

The news all but confirms the rumours that Primark is set to relocate from its single-storey Cameron Walk unit – formerly Littlewoods – to the enlarged Woolworths site in Garden Walk. In May, planners approved an application from The MetroCentre Partnership for a 17,405 sq ft extension to the unit, increasing its size, across two floors, to 60,000 sq ft.

This reconfigured unit is similar in size to the upcoming Next store, in the CSC-owned Eldon Square, which the statement also reveals is “on target for a December 2010 handover enabling an Easter 2011 retail opening.”

Assuming that the Primark move is confirmed – and there are few other retailers that would fit the bill of a “major value fashion anchor” – attention will surely turn to who might take over the freed-up Primark site. However, with the expanding Swedish retailer Clas Ohlson already trading or signed up in four of CSC’s 13 shopping centres – and planning to open, in the longer term, up to 200 UK shops – a MetroCentre unit of the right size and configuration could well be on its radar.

New Poundland store, Gateshead (21 Sep 2010)

Returning home after a two-week holiday in Montenegro (more of which in due course), it seems like quite a lot has been happening within Tyneside’s retail scene while I’ve been away. 

As well as Asda’s plans for the old Byker Woolies getting the green light, and Northumberland Street seeing “exploratory digging” ahead of gaining 100 security bollards, there’s a slew of five new store openings taking place in Newcastle, Gateshead and MetroCentre yesterday, today and tomorrow – some of them known for a while, but others a little more unexpected. However, though varying in scale and relative importance, all these new arrivals are interesting in their own way, and represent positive news for their respective locations. 

TK Maxx site at MetroCentre, back in March

Yesterday (Thursday) saw the long-awaited opening of the combined TK Maxx and HomeSense at MetroCentre – previously blogged about here – which occupies a 45,000 sq ft unit on the site of the old Odeon cinema. I’m yet to pay a visit, but an investment of this scale should provide a shot in the arm for what has previously been a very tired-looking Blue Mall, despite all the pedestrian traffic that passes through on its way from the nearby Transport Interchange. 

Also yesterday, Gateshead town centre had the unusual attraction of a store opening of its own, with Poundland setting up shop in the former Woolworths. Though there were some rumours about Poundland’s imminent arrival in the last month or two, the speed with the new High Street store has been opened is pretty impressive, with no sign of anything happening on site in the week or two preceding my holiday. 

Again, it’s a great boost for a site that had previously seemed destined for long-term vacancy, and can only have been helped by the start of demolition work on the nearby Get Carter car park – a tangible sign, at last, that Gateshead town centre is moving forward. Poundland’s decision to get in now seems like a canny move, as the location is bound to benefit massively, in the longer term, from the Trinity Square redevelopment. Prior to that, the store is also, as I noted before, opposite the planned temporary Tesco that will trade once the existing supermarket is demolished. 

The new Clinton Cards site in Eldon Square, photographed last month (6 Aug 2010)

Today, Newcastle’s Eldon Square has also had a couple of notable openings, including the new combined Clinton Cards and Pure Party in Douglas Way’s old River Island unit – mentioned previously here – and yet another new Starbucks, this time in St Andrew’s Way. Visiting Eldon Square a few days ago, I noticed that the existing Clintons has indeed closed, leaving a decent-sized vacant unit in Blackettbridge. Meanwhile, the new Starbucks sits next to Debenhams, occupying the previously empty large space between the department store and the lifts. All of a sudden, the layout of that part of the mall begins to make a lot more sense.

Existing Kurt Geiger in Grainger Street, Newcastle

Given Eldon Square’s current form, the old Clinton’s is unlikely to be empty for very long. One store it won’t be housing, however, is Kurt Geiger, with work already underway on creating a flagship store for the shoe retailer within the recently closed Barratts unit in Hotspur Way. Assuming that Kurt Geiger moves from its existing location in Grainger Street, this will begin the process of freeing up the ground floor space needed for the reported three-storey Urban Outfitters store within the current Green Market building.

Existing Apple Store, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010). Photograph by Peter (aka 'Newcastle Historian')

Of all this weekend’s openings though, the most notable has to be that of the new Apple Store at MetroCentre. Though the store’s impending arrival is no surprise, having been known since May, its opening date has been kept something of a surprise. Indeed, the Chronicle only revealed the news three days ago, ahead of the store’s opening at 10am tomorrow (Saturday). Unsurprisingly, the store is located in the Debenham’s-anchored Red Mall – the most modern and attractive part of MetroCentre – occupying the unit that housed USC prior to that retailer’s recent relocation.

As the Chronicle rightly observes, it’s a real coup for MetroCentre  – and for Capital Shopping Centres – to have signed up Apple for a second Tyneside shop when there are still fewer than 30 Apple Stores in the UK, including some notable locations, such as Edinburgh and Leeds, where the retailer is not yet represented at all.

Other than here, only Bristol, Manchester and London feature Apple Stores simultaneously in both city centre and out-of-town locations – a sign, one must imagine, that the Eldon Square shop is already surpassing Apple’s expectations, and a great signal to other retailers that Tyneside retail is in pretty fine fettle right now.

Screenshot of Fossil UK website (27 Aug 2010)

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

For someone who likes to keep his finger on the pulse of Newcastle city centre retail, I was disturbed to think that I’d somehow missed there being a Fossil store! Further investigation to get to the bottom of this was duly required.

It didn’t take long to find the answer. Visiting the UK Fossil website soon revealed that the shop it refers to as ‘Fossil Store Newcastle’ is actually at the MetroCentre – in Gateshead – somewhere that I visit less frequently. A quick look at the MetroCentre store guide told me that the shop is on the lower level of the trendy Central Mall, opposite Republic and next to Superdry.

Though I was able to solve the mystery, it still begs the question of why the shop – whose logo, ironically, includes the slogan ‘Authentic Fossil’ – is referred to as ‘Fossil Store Newcastle’. These geographical liberties may go over the heads of executives in London or the United States, but it’s guaranteed to irritate a significant proportion of Gateshead’s 190,000 inhabitants.

It must also be confusing for shoppers – if a store is actually at MetroCentre, most people would expect it to be badged as such. After all, as the (reputedly) largest shopping centre in Europe, MetroCentre is hardly an insignificant retail location.

Of course, it isn’t just Fossil that has adopted the bad habit of being liberal with its store naming. Debenhams originally referred to its MetroCentre store as ‘Newcastle’, only renaming it ‘Gateshead’ once it opened its actual store in Newcastle earlier this year. Equally, much as I like Clas Ohlson, I can imagine there being some gnashing of teeth about its upcoming Merry Hill store – in Dudley – being badged as ‘Birmingham’.

It may only be a label, but I do think it’s unfortunate – particularly for the place being snubbed – if a retailer in one location purports, through ignorance or design, to be situated somewhere else.

What do you think? Are you similarly irritated by geographically erroneous store labels? Or is it a minor detail that only bothers retail geeks? As always, please feel free to add your thoughts – or any other good examples of the location-stretching genre.

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 my post, in June, where I suggested that “Nottingham, Cardiff, Norwich, Bristol and Southampton [are] among the top retail centres that could well be on Clas Ohlson’s hit list.”

Both shops are scheduled to open in December, shortly after the previously announced new store at Merry Hill, and will be similar in size to the existing Clas Ohlson shop at Liverpool’s Clayton Square. Their opening will increase the number of Clas Ohlson stores in the UK to ten.

The Norwich store is to be located in unit 13 of the Chapelfield shopping centre, occupying retail space of 1,570 sqm (16,899 sq ft) in what I understand used to be the lower level of the city’s Borders store^{[broken link removed]} – a prime spot opposite H&M.

At 1,640 sqm (17,653 sq ft), Cardiff’s store, in the St David’s centre, is a similar size to the one in Norwich. St David’s was extended and refurbished at the end of last year, with an impressive new John Lewis as its centrepiece, and I’m assuming that Clas Ohlson will occupy one of those new units that has not so far attracted a tenant.

Interestingly, both Chapelfield and St David’s are owned (wholly and partly respectively) by Capital Shopping Centres. With CSC also owning Watford’s Harlequin and Manchester’s Arndale (as I noted here), it will mean that four of Clas Ohlson’s ten UK stores are in CSC locations.

On this basis, how long can it be before CSC’s Eldon Square in Newcastle or MetroCentre in Gateshead also gets in on the Clas Ohlson act?

UPDATE, 30 August 2010: It’s been announced today that Clas Ohlson has also signed for a 1,760 sqm (18,944 sq ft) store in Doncaster’s Frenchgate Shopping Centre. There seems to be no word on the exact location yet, though I’m wondering if it will be the still-empty former Woolies site.

TK Maxx site at MetroCentre's Blue Mall

The trouble of spending too much of my time visiting town centres and shopping malls is that I end up with more potential blog topics than I ever have time to actually write about, accompanied by folders full of unused digital photographs.

One story that I’ve been sitting on for a while is the upcoming opening of TK Maxx at Gateshead’s MetroCentre, adding to a portfolio of Tyneside stores that already includes a Newcastle city centre shop at Monument Mall, and retail park sites at Byker, Kingston Park and Team Valley.

When news of the MetroCentre opening emerged back in October, it was reported that TK Maxx would be taking over the two-storey former Woolworths unit – an assumption that seemed to make good sense. It turns out, however, that this is not the case: TK Maxx will, in fact, be moving into the space in the Blue Mall that was occupied by the Odeon cinema until December last year. If you’ve been following such things, you’ll know that this space was freed up following the opening of a new Odeon in the Yellow Mall, occupying the site that used to be the New MetroLand funfair.

TK Maxx and HomeSense coming soon

As reported by Retail Week, and now confirmed by the ‘coming soon’ signage on site (above), the upcoming 45,000 sq ft store is noteworthy in that it will be the first in the UK to open under a dual TK Maxx and HomeSense fascia.

HomeSense is TK Maxx owner TJX’s homewares chain, and is an established format for the company in the US and Canada. In the UK, the first HomeSense stores, in Cardiff and Poole, only opened in 2008; the chain has now expanded to 16 sites, with a further four scheduled to open in June and July, though none so far have opened in the North East or Yorkshire. As it is, the HomeSense website suggests that we will still have to wait until ‘late September’ for the opening of the MetroCentre store.

Former Woolworths at MetroCentre

All this means, of course, that the future of the large former Woolworths site at MetroCentre remains unclear. A recent planning application – submitted in February – for a 1,617 sqm (17,405 sq ft) extension to the unit suggests that something is in the offing, though I understand that there has been no decision on that application as yet. I have heard rumours that an existing MetroCentre tenant may be poised to upgrade to the former Woolworths unit, so perhaps more news will be forthcoming if and when the pending planning application is approved.

Apple Store, Eldon Square (16 Feb 2010). Photograph by Peter (aka 'Newcastle Historian')

Just three months after opening a new store in the St Andrew’s Way extension of Eldon Square, I understand that Apple is poised to open a second Tyneside shop at the MetroCentre in Gateshead.

I’m not aware that anything has yet been announced officially, but anyone looking for retail opportunities on the Jobs at Apple website is given the option of MetroCentre as a future store opening (screenshot below).

Screenshot of Jobs at Apple website (21 May 2010)

This is undoubtedly good news for MetroCentre, and will go some way in countering the scepticism – from me, and others – about the mall’s ability to attract and retain more upmarket names. It also suggests that the Eldon Square Apple Store must be meeting or exceeding expectations, given that there would be little point in opening a second store if it risked dangerously cannibalising the first.

MetroCentre logo on empty unit

I popped over to MetroCentre this afternoon, and spotted a few things that seemed worthy of blogging about.

Millets: Following on from my post last week about Blacks Leisure announcing plans to shut 89 loss-making branches, I noticed that the MetroCentre Millets store is already having a closing down sale. However, the nearby Blacks store looks like it’s safe.

I’m yet to come across a list of the stores being closed (there is nothing, as far as I can see, attached to the official announcement), but I imagine that a good few will be in those locations where Blacks and Millets are competing with each other. To be honest, I’ve always struggled to understand what the difference between the two is supposed to be.

Woolworths: MetroCentre’s vast size – there are 330 stores – means that it has suffered from having a larger than usual number of nationally defunct retailers. Rosebys, Zavvi, The Pier, the Original Shoe Company and, inevitably, Woolworths were among the prominent voids that I spotted today.

Former Woolworths at MetroCentre

Woolworths took over the old two-level C&A unit at MetroCentre in 2000, following that retailer’s decision to move out of the UK. However, there’s no sign as yet of anyone coming in to take Woolworths’ place. I struggle, in fact, to think of a retailer that might want to occupy it. Most of the potential tenants for a unit this size – Bhs, Primark, perhaps New Look – are already represented at MetroCentre, while other possibles, such as Wilkinson, don’t seem to make a habit of opening stores in large regional shopping centres. Any thoughts, anyone?

Waterstone’s: MetroCentre’s Waterstone’s illustrates the point that I made here about retailers not bothering to upgrade certain stores within their estate. Not only does the store’s frontage still feature the old, upper case logo, but its apostrophe appears to have fallen off (credit where it’s due, however, for Waterstone’s including the apostrophe in its name in the first place  – most retailers would have got rid of it long ago).

Inside it’s a similar story, with rather worn carpets and a sad looking store directory – the kind that has certain categories covered up with card, and other ones stuck on afterwards (I spotted a similar design crime in WHSmith). Surely it can’t be that hard to come up with a store directory format that is able to accommodate retailers moving stock around from floor to floor?

On the plus side, the store did have the book I wanted, and the person who served me at the till was friendly and helpful – always one of Waterstone’s strengths, in my view. Still, applying a bit of TLC to the store itself definitely wouldn’t go amiss.

HMV: Over in Waterstone’s sister store, HMV, the shop looked generally better but the customer service was less satisfactory. The first hurdle to buying something was getting around a display bin of blank CDs, pointlessly positioned directly in front of the counter. Second, I didn’t really appreciate the glaring downlighter, set above the counter, that was seemingly designed to blind (and cook) any customer that approached. Third – and most irritatingly – the person who served me spent the entire duration of the transaction continuing her conversation with a colleague, despite my best efforts to engage in friendly eye contact.

This habit of taking the customer’s money but otherwise ignoring them is one of my biggest pet hates when shopping, and HMV is by no means the only culprit. I did, at least, get a “see you later” – however, if that’s the level of customer service I can expect, seeing me later is probably unlikely.

Millets store

Today’s retail news has arguably been dominated by Marks and Spencer revealing better than expected results, and Blacks Leisure (owner of Millets, as well as its eponymous chain) announcing plans to shut 89 stores that “have not traded profitably for many years” (in which case, you may wonder why the company has persevered with those branches as long as it has – Woolworths’ demise surely demonstrates the potential for ropey stores to bring the profitable ones crashing down with them).

While established names link M&S and Blacks display mixed fortunes in their quest for future success, one of today’s other (less prominent but no less interesting) retail stories relates to a brand new presence on the high street – GIVe, the latest venture from fashion guru George Davies of Next, George at Asda and Per Una fame.

Following months of anticipation, GIVe’s Regent Street flagship has opened today, with 21 other shops – five standalone stores and 16 department store concessions – following tomorrow. Alongside London, the standalone GIVe stores are in all the top shopping centre locations that you would expect – Bluewater, Cribbs Causeway, Kingston-upon-Thames, Liverpool One, Meadowhall – with Glasgow and Harrogate following soon.

Unusually, the concessions are all located within independent department stores, including all 11 Beales sites – a refreshing change from the usual House of Frasers and Debenhams. This decision, reportedly, is linked to Davies’ wish to offer a free minor alterations service within all his GIVe shops, as well as his desire for a less corporate, more boutiquey feel – hence the sense in tying up with department stores that already provide this type of personal, customer-focused service.

Several observations can be made about the store portfolio. Most obvious, from a North East viewpoint, is the absence as yet of any GIVe stores in our region. Perhaps we shouldn’t worry – after all, there’s no GIVe store to date in Manchester, Leeds or Edinburgh either. However, compared to other major regional shopping centres, such as Bluewater and Cribbs Causeway, I do wonder sometimes about MetroCentre’s ability to attract and retain the top names – take for example the oft-cited departure of Gap and its replacement with Peacocks.

Don’t get me wrong - Peacocks is a great shop – but it’s ubiquity means that it’s not really a special shop. For me, a special shop can still be part of a retail chain, but it needs to be one that has few enough stores to make each one a real destination – shops like the John Lewis’s, Fenwicks, Selfridges, Apple Stores and Lego Stores of this world. Other than the Berghaus flagship, it’s difficult to think of stores in MetroCentre that would fit this definition. Is it a function of the existing retail mix? The fact that the 22-year-old MetroCentre, with the exception of the Red Mall extension, looks rather cheap and dated compared to its newer competitors? Or something else? 

Certainly, Apple Store’s important decision to open up in Newcastle’s Eldon Square extension (blogged about here), alongside a growing roster of big-name fashion retailers, may help give Eldon Square the edge as the most likely location for GIVe’s North East debut. Alternatively, Rutherfords in Morpeth (mentioned here) or Robbs in Hexham would be obvious candidates, were GIVe to go down the concessions route.

Another observation about GIVe’s store portfolio is quite what a coup – and potential boost – this is for Beales, whose recent performance has been patchy to say the least. Assuming that GIVe is a success, Beales is sure to reap some benefit in terms of both footfall and trade. If nothing else, it will help to make its sometimes tired-looking stores more of a retail destination again.

GIVe homepage

 Inevitably, a blog post like this would not be complete without me passing comment on GIVe’s online presence. I’m hardly qualified to comment on the women’s fashions themselves, but the good quality photographs are really effective, and I like how the clothes can be browsed by colour as well as garment type. The ‘style with’ tips – suggesting belts or bags to go with your top – also seem like a canny move. If nothing else, Davies’ ability to launch a high street retail chain and fully operational online store on the same day is pretty impressive. Recognising the synergies between bricks and clicks, the site – unlike others I could mention - also gets brownie points for featuring a list of GIVe store locations, complete with opening times, contact details, and the name of the store manager.

Any obvious website downsides? None especially, other than the predominant black and white look making the GIVe site resemble any number of other fashion retailers’ – House of Fraser or the aforementioned Tucci, to name just two. As always, if you’ve surfed the GIVe website – or indeed visited one of the high street stores – feel free to share your own reactions to the GIVe experience.

Here’s a screenshot:

Screenshot of ES South lettings map, September 2009

At present, the only Apple Stores in the north of England are in Manchester (Trafford Centre and Arndale Centre) and at Sheffield’s Meadowhall. If it all goes through, Apple Store coming to Newcastle would therefore be a real coup for Eldon Square’s majority owners, Capital Shopping Centres (CSC).

Indeed, Apple Store and Superdry are particularly welcome additions to Eldon Square in that they are retailers new to Newcastle (though Superdry, admittedly, already has a store at Gateshead’s MetroCentre). As I noted before, with the exception of Debenhams, ES South’s early major lettings – New Look, River Island, the Arcadia brands – were all relocations from existing pitches in Eldon Square. Back in June, this lack of new names led the retail industry journal Retail Week to devote an in-depth – if perhaps overly negative – article to what they described as CSC’s “hollow victory”.

However, this latest news on lettings begins to suggest a better balance between old and new names, as well as indicating that there are only six of the 25 new units left to fill. This raises the prospect that ES South could, when it opens next spring, be more or less fully let – a remarkable achievement given the present economic climate. The real test, however, will be ensuring that the large and prominent units being vacated by New Look, River Island, Topshop, et al do not stay empty for long.

Credit where it’s due to patrickratcliff at the SkyscraperCity forums for spotting this interesting new development!