Soult's Retail View

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 … Continue Reading

Like Santa in Keswick, does HMV have a mountain to climb? (27 Nov 2011)

Eighteen months on from securing a £220m refinancing ‘lifeline’, HMV’s warning today that it is … Continue Reading

TJ Hughes, Middlesbrough (12 Sep 2012)

TJ Hughes, the discount department store chain, has announced that its Middlesbrough store will reopen next week, at 10am on Wednesday 3 October.

Under the heading ‘We’re back!”, window posters at the store have been trumpeting an ‘October 2012′ reopening for the last few weeks, but … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now BHS), Queen Street, Cardiff (17 Aug 2012)

Paying my first visit to Cardiff in twenty years last week, I couldn’t resist tracking down the city centre’s former Woolworths locations – despite the torrential rain making conditions for photography somewhat challenging.

Cardiff still had several Woolworths branches outside the centre at the time of Woolworths’ collapse, in Cowbridge Road East (store … Continue Reading

Ex-TJ Hughes, Middlesbrough, prior to arrival of Metro Outlet (30 Sep 2011)

TJ Hughes is to reopen its store in Middlesbrough’s Captain Cook Square, it has been confirmed.

The move comes almost exactly a year after the store … Continue Reading

Former Peacocks, Middlesbrough (7 Mar 2012)

Middlesbrough might have lost its Pure Party store in the fallout from Clinton Cards’ collapse, but as some retailers depart the town others are arriving – or expanding.

Just now, it seems that the once thing the town can’t get enough of is discount variety … Continue Reading

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

Artist’s impression of new Cramlington Poundworld store. Image courtesy of Poundworld

Hot on the heels of its new Express store in Redcar, which launched last month, the discount variety chain Poundworld is set to open another new store in Cramlington this Friday (6 April).

Poundworld already trades from a shop inside the Manor Walks shopping centre, … Continue Reading

Game in Sunderland's High Street West - now closed (13 Mar 2012)

Twenty-one Game and Gamestation shops in the North East are among the 277 stores that have closed immediately following Game Group’s collapse into administration this morning.

While the administrator, PwC, … Continue Reading

Primark site, Newcastle (5 Mar 2012)

Whatever you might think about the rise of the fashion retailer Primark, there’s no disputing that it’s one of the big retail success stories right now. Just here in the North East, Primark opened its new 58,700 sq ft Metrocentre store (which I’m still yet to check … Continue Reading

Existing Metro Outlet in Gateshead (25 Mar 2011)

Middlesbrough had some retail good news on Saturday, as a new store opened its doors in the town’s former TJ Hughes premises – following on from the … Continue Reading

Peacocks in Newcastle, which has now closed (22 Jan 2012)

Today’s announcement that Edinburgh Woollen Mill has bought fashion retailer Peacocks out of administration is very good news as far as the 6,000 saved jobs and 395 retained stores are concerned. However, 224 stores … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now Boots), Linthorpe Village (16 Nov 2010)

In parts 1 and 2 of this series, I’ve talked about the two incarnations of Middlesbrough’s flagship Woolworths (store #8) – firstly at 91-93 Linthorpe Road, and latterly at … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths, 51-67 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough (24 Feb 2010)

Last month I wrote about the former Woolworths store at 91-93 Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough (store #8, below), which opened there in 1911. As I observed, it was not only the first Woolworths store in the town, but … Continue Reading

91-93 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough (4 May 2011)

After making my first visit to Middlesbrough’s most recent former Woolworths – the site of today’s Discount UK – back in September 2009, Soult’s Retail View readers Ali Brown and … Continue Reading

House of Fraser (Binns), Darlington (1 Mar 2011)

It’s not one of my most well-read posts, but some of you may remember my blog from last March about the disappointing state of the toilet facilities in Darlington’s landmark House of Fraser (Binns) store.

While at first glance it might … Continue Reading

Discount UK, Newcastle (29 Oct 2011)

Discount UK, the Poundworld-owned variety store retailer, is to open the doors of its new Newcastle store at 10am on Friday (4 November).

As I reported a month ago, contractors on site first revealed that the Clayton Street premises had been taken over by Poundworld, nearly three years after … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths, Newcastle (23 Aug 2011)

It seems we might finally have an answer to all the work that’s been going on recently at the old Newcastle Woolworths at 73-79 Clayton Street (store #340) – though not really thanks to any clever detective work on my part.

Last month, work was taking place on site that seemed to involve air being noisily pumped out from large tubes on the ground floor (above); then, … Continue Reading

Newcastle's TJ Hughes (8 Aug 2011)

There was good news for Newcastle city centre earlier this week, with the announcement that the TJ Hughes store in Grainger Street had been sold, preventing the loss of 76 jobs. However, the … 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