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

New Look and Next (formerly Woolworths), Perth (24 Nov 2011). Photograph by Steve Hack

The fashion retailers Next and New Look opened the doors to their new stores in Perth yesterday (24 November), on the site of the town’s former Woolworths store (#197). My friend Steve … 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

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

John Lewis Tamworth (17 Jun 2011)

Following the confirmation, in April, that John Lewis will indeed be opening one of its ‘At Home’ stores in Tamworth, work on site seems to be proceeding rapidly ahead of the Ventura Park store’s planned … 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

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

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

Former Woolworths, Newton Aycliffe (1 Mar 2011)

With a dwindling number of empty Woolworths stores remaining in the North East, it doesn’t take too long to check out whether anything’s happening on the ground.

I … 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 logo

No, don’t choke on your cornflakes… that’s a serious question.

My interest was piqued last month when the Tamworth Herald ran a story under the headline ”Striking design’ of unit to be built next to Herald offices’, on the town’s ever-growing Ventura Retail Park.

In it, the piece gave a few more details about … Continue Reading

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Warrington (27 Dec 2010). Photograph by Beth Anderson

With Woolworths having occupied something like 1,400 UK sites over the years, the chances of any one person having the time (or inclination) to track them all down is pretty slim. So, I’m always pleased when friends and colleagues help me out by snapping the occasional ex-Woolies that they … 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

Typical Card Factory fascia

Newcastle City Council has recently received a planning application for the “display of internally illuminated fascia sign and non illuminated projecting sign to front elevation” for 55-57 Northumberland Street. The applicant, I understand, is the rapidly expanding greetings card chain … Continue Reading

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

No missing the fact that Peacocks is coming... (20 May 2010)

The opening of St Andrew’s Way back in February – and Hollister, belatedly, in April – may have been this year’s biggest retail events in … Continue Reading

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

I might have been busy at work at 10:30 a.m this morning, but many thousands of others evidently weren’t, judging from the crowds that attended the grand opening of St Andrew’s Way! Such was the excitement, Eldon Square was once again a trending topic on Twitter for much … Continue Reading