Archived blog posts (2009 to 2018) about shops on the high street and online, by North East-based retail consultant Graham Soult
When Gateshead’s Trinity Square opened its doors in May last year, you could have been forgiven for being a little underwhelmed by the extent of...
Read more....Think of a great northern city, and the chances are that you’ll bring to mind one of the great northern retailers that’s based there. Bradford...
Read more....In what seems to be becoming a regular occurrence, I’m off to Spring Fair International at the NEC today (Monday 3 February) where – as...
Read more....If you’ve managed to miss me hogging the airwaves this morning – on BBC Radio 5 Live (which you can listen to here), Wales, Scotland,...
Read more....Though navigating the economic downturn continues to challenge many stores, one of the fascinating subtexts has been the growth of new independent retailers, sometimes borne out...
Read more....It’s hard to believe that it’s five years ago today – on 26 November 2008 – that Woolworths collapsed into administration after trading in the...
Read more....The new Lego Store at Gateshead’s Intu Metrocentre is to open on Friday 29 November, I understand. The imminent opening of the store seems to have prompted...
Read more....As you’d expect, running the Home Interiors Directory (part of my CannySites.com business) means that I get to work with a lot of etailers who are...
Read more....A year and a half after 21 North East stores closed following Game’s collapse into administration, two of those shops – in Grainger Street, Newcastle and...
Read more....Newcastle’s iconic Fenwick department store is rightly known for its annual Christmas window – which can’t, scarily, be very far off making its appearance for 2013....
Read more....In recent months, the St Andrew’s Way section of Newcastle’s Eldon Square has seen its first tenant departures since opening in February 2010, with the...
Read more....The thriving discount retailer B&M is recruiting staff for its new Gateshead store, which is scheduled to open at Team Valley Retail World on Saturday...
Read more....Sunderland’s ex-Peacocks unit in The Bridges is finally to be reoccupied, after more than 18 months of vacancy. The prominent Market Square store was one of...
Read more....The Newcastle suburb of Byker will gain a welcome addition when its new Wetherspoon pub – The High Main – opens at 63 Shields Road on 22...
Read more....Never one to let a good Woolworths anniversary pass me by, today – 20 September 2013 – represents 73 years since Darlington’s Woolworths store relocated...
Read more....Regular readers will know that one of my favourite things about working in retail is discovering really interesting and successful independent shops – whether that’s...
Read more....Regular readers will know that I visit a lot of British high streets – including more than 400 different ones in the last four years...
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As you may recall, one of the many hats that I wear is as a Sage Business Expert. Set up by the Newcastle-based software company nearly...
Read more....I understand that Gateshead’s Metrocentre is to gain its first Intu-branded external signage overnight tonight (11 July), ahead of a weekend of celebrations to mark...
Read more....In the same month that Middlesbrough-based furniture institution Barker and Stonehouse has opened its first London store, in Battersea, it’s been revealed that another firm with...
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