Soult's Retail View

Celtic Tiger: the Danish variety retailer prepares for Glasgow store opening

Graham Soult November 23, 2012 Overseas, Property, Variety Stores, Woolworths 3 Comments

Tags: 99p Stores, Alworths, Barratts, Basingstoke, Buchanan Street, Clas Ohlson, Dunfermline, Glasgow, Hub, Ikea, Livingston, Poundland, Poundstretcher, Retail Week, Sauchiehall Street, Tiger, Wellchester, Woolworths

New Tiger store, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow (22 Nov 2012)

If you follow my tweets you’ll know that I’ve spent the middle part of this week in Glasgow, taking time to explore the Ayrshire coast as well as the brilliant, fascinating, bustling city itself. While I love the sophistication of … Continue Reading

New-concept Wilko opens in Crawley’s ex-TJ Hughes store

Graham Soult August 15, 2012 Co-operatives, Online, Property, Retail History, Variety Stores, Woolworths No Comments

Tags: B&M Bargains, Co-op, Crawley, Home Bargains, Horley, Poundland, Poundstretcher, Retail Week, TJ Hughes, Wilkinson, Wilko, Woolworths

Promotion for Crawley store on Wilkinson website (15 Aug 2012)

Wilkinson’s “newest and most exciting concept store” has opened at 14-26 The Broadway in Crawley this morning (15 August).

Designed to “offer the community a more modern and interactive shopping experience”, the new store further evolves the modern look that Wilkinson has been rolling out across its estate, such as … Continue Reading

From textured berber to veggie burgers: new uses for Devon’s old Woolworths

Graham Soult April 10, 2012 Property, Retail History, Variety Stores, Woolworths 2 Comments

Tags: Alworths, Barnstaple, Carpetright, Exeter, Exmouth, Fopp, G&H Interiors, Guildhall Shopping, Honiton, Iceland, John Lewis, Lace Walk, Lord Harris, McDonald's, Peter Betteridge The Bed Expert, Poundstretcher, Seaton, Sidmouth, Tiverton, Wilkinson, Woolworths

Poundstretcher (formerly Woolworths and Alworths), Tiverton (9 Sep 2011)

With another shop-spotting visit to Devon scheduled for later this month, now seems like an opportune time to share the ex-Woolies photos that I took during my last trip to the county, back in September.

I blogged about the Sidmouth store (#729; now M&Co) last month, while the Tiverton ex-Woolies at 18 Fore Street (#404) … Continue Reading

Poundstretcher reveals new visual identity as it reopens ex-UGO stores

Graham Soult March 22, 2012 Brands, Property, Supermarkets, Variety Stores No Comments

Tags: Ashington, Blyth, Didcot, Poundstretcher, UGO

Sign at Poundstretcher in Ashington (21 Mar 2012)

Poundstretcher, the discount variety store chain, has reopened the UGO stores that it acquired last month – and has seemingly unveiled a new logo at the same time.

I was in Ashington yesterday, and paid a visit to the ex-UGO … Continue Reading

Metro Outlet takes over Middlesbrough’s TJ Hughes site, but ex-TJ’s elsewhere remain empty

Graham Soult February 28, 2012 Department Stores, Fashion Stores, Home and DIY, Property, Retail Parks, Shopping Centres 8 Comments

Tags: Captain Cook Square, Coventry, Debenhams, Doncaster, Dumfries, Ellesmere Port, Forever 21, Gateshead, ILVA, Marks & Spencer Lifestore, Metro Outlet, Middlesbrough, Peacocks, Poundstretcher, Sony Centre, TJ Hughes, TK Maxx

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

How Poundstretcher can learn a thing or two from its acquired UGO stores

Graham Soult February 19, 2012 Brands, Property, Retail Parks, Supermarkets, Variety Stores, Woolworths 8 Comments

Tags: Alworths, Ashington, Didcot, Eston, Hartlepool, Hessle Road, Hull, Melksham, Newcastle, Nuneaton, Poundstretcher, Stanley, Tees Bay Retail Park, Tiverton, UGO, Wombwell, Woolworths

Poundstretcher and UGO, Nuneaton (7 Feb 2012)

After I first revealed that UGO, the fledgling supermarket chain, was set to be sold, there was understandably plenty of speculation about who the buyer was. Now that we know it’s the expanding variety retailer Poundstretcher, what exactly can we make of the … Continue Reading

Wombwell Poundstretcher’s Andrex window display is not flushed with success

Graham Soult November 07, 2011 Variety Stores 9 Comments

Tags: Alworths, Barnsley, Camborne, Discount UK, Home Bargains, Melksham, Newcastle, North Berwick, Poundstretcher, Tiverton, Wilkinson, Wombwell, Woolworths

Window display, Poundstretcher Wombwell (3 Nov 2011)

A few days ago, I blogged about how Poundstretcher in Newcastle needs to sell itself better in order to capitalise on the extra footfall generated by the opening of Discount UK opposite. … Continue Reading

As Discount UK opens in Newcastle, Poundstretcher watches

Graham Soult November 04, 2011 Brands, Variety Stores, Woolworths 4 Comments

Tags: Argos, Cargo, Clayton Street, Discount UK, Newcastle, Poundland, Poundstretcher, Poundworld, Wilkinson

Discount UK (former Woolworths), Newcastle (4 Nov 2011)

Poundworld-owned variety retailer Discount UK has opened its Newcastle store today, with stilt walkers and free sweets on hand to welcome shoppers to the former Woolworths site.

I dropped by shortly after the store opened at 10am, and it seemed to have got off to a … Continue Reading

The new occupants of Cornwall’s ex-Woolies – plus one that’s still empty

Graham Soult September 21, 2011 Outdoor Leisure, Property, Retail History, Variety Stores, Woolworths 3 Comments

Tags: Camborne, Cornwall, Cotswold Outdoor, Falmouth, Helston, Launceston, Mountain Warehouse, Penzance, Pizza Express, Poundland, Poundstretcher, Redruth, St Ives, The Original Factory Shop, Truro, Woolworths

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Truro (21 Feb 2011)

Having visited and photographed nearly 150 ex-Woolworths sites in the last three years (including 17 in the last week alone) – 50 of which are yet to feature in the blog – it’s about time I did some catching up.

Earlier in the year I wrote about two of the Woolworths stores in Cornwall that had disappeared long before the … Continue Reading

Poundstretcher takes over Llandudno Alworths after all

Graham Soult June 09, 2011 Property, Variety Stores, Woolworths 4 Comments

Tags: Alworths, Evesham, Llandudno, Poundstretcher, Publishers Book Clearance, Swadlincote, Tesco, Woolworths

New Poundstretcher, Llandudno (8 Jun 2011). Photograph by Dave Roberts

Many thanks to my North Wales contact, Dave Roberts, who has sent me a photo of the former Alworths store in Llandudno being converted into a Poundstretcher.

When Poundstretcher’s purchase of 15 failed Alworths stores was announced last month, the stores in Llandudno – which was … Continue Reading

Poundstretcher expands with purchase of failed Alworths stores

Graham Soult May 05, 2011 Property, Variety Stores, Woolworths 12 Comments

Tags: Alworths, Camborne, Ethel Austin, Evesham, Llandudno, North Berwick, Poundstretcher

Poundstretcher fascia, Camborne (20 Feb 2011)

Amid the gloom of Alworths’ collapse into administration last month, it seems that there’s now some good news. Retail Week is reporting that Alworths’ variety store rival, Poundstretcher, has bought 15 of the failed chain’s 17 … 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

Poundland to Poundstretcher – a brace of Scottish former Woolies

Graham Soult July 27, 2010 Property, Variety Stores, Woolworths 5 Comments

Tags: 99p Stores, B&M Bargains, Camborne, Edinburgh, Home Bargains, Hyde, Instore, Inverness, North Berwick, Northern Ireland, Poundland, Poundstretcher, Whitchurch, Woolworths

High Street, Inverness with former Woolworths store (1 May 2010)

One of the hazards of visiting so many places – and taking so many photos of shops – is that I end up with far more potential blog topics than I ever have time to write about.

Some shots that I’ve had gathering dust since the beginning of May are from when I holidayed … Continue Reading

Déjà vu as Poundstretcher sells surplus Woolies-branded stock

Graham Soult August 09, 2009 Brands, Variety Stores, Woolworths 3 Comments

Tags: B&M Bargains, Gateshead, Hexham, Home Bargains, Instore, Poundland, Poundstretcher, Team Valley, Woolworths, Worthit

Woolworths Worthit logo

Wandering around the variety store Poundstretcher in Hexham yesterday, I was understandably surprised to spot lots of Woolworths-branded products on the shelves, including – among many other things – Worthit DVD players and laundry baskets.

Presumably, Poundstretcher has snapped up surplus warehouse stock that would have been destined for Woolies, had it survived. It struck me as quite ironic, given that Poundstretcher put its weak performance over Christmas down to competition from Woolworths’ clearance sale – selling off … Continue Reading

Soult's Retail View

Celtic Tiger: the Danish variety retailer prepares for Glasgow store opening

New-concept Wilko opens in Crawley’s ex-TJ Hughes store

From textured berber to veggie burgers: new uses for Devon’s old Woolworths

Poundstretcher reveals new visual identity as it reopens ex-UGO stores

Metro Outlet takes over Middlesbrough’s TJ Hughes site, but ex-TJ’s elsewhere remain empty

How Poundstretcher can learn a thing or two from its acquired UGO stores

Wombwell Poundstretcher’s Andrex window display is not flushed with success

As Discount UK opens in Newcastle, Poundstretcher watches

The new occupants of Cornwall’s ex-Woolies – plus one that’s still empty

Poundstretcher takes over Llandudno Alworths after all

Poundstretcher expands with purchase of failed Alworths stores

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

Poundland to Poundstretcher – a brace of Scottish former Woolies

Déjà vu as Poundstretcher sells surplus Woolies-branded stock

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