Charles Clinkard Q&A: “Maintaining good relationships with suppliers is key”
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....
Tips for indie retail success at Spring Fair today
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....
Five years after closure, Newton Aycliffe Woolworths may soon be occupied
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....
Promoting the fair trade cause: Retailer Q&A with The Home Decor Company
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....
Five years on from Woolies’ collapse, Boyes signs for the Coalville store
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....
Exclusive: Lego Store set for 29 November opening at Intu Metrocentre
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....
“We present a new way of shopping”: Retailer Q&A with The Longest Stay
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....
Resurgent Game reopens axed stores in Newcastle and Sunderland
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....
Fenwick Newcastle’s autumn window impresses – but WHSmith opposite falls short
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....
Adidas and Toys R Us move quickly to fill Intu Eldon Square voids
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....
B&M recruits for Gateshead Team Valley store ahead of 16 November opening
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....
Good news for Sunderland as fashion store Utopia takes over ex-Peacocks
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....
Old Woolies fascia exposed as Byker Wetherspoon’s readies for October opening
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....
Tracking down Darlington’s original Woolworths – 73 years after it relocated
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....
Celebrating Britain’s new indie retailers at Autumn Fair
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....
Shrewsbury: the town where independents are keeping the high street buzzing
Regular readers will know that I visit a lot of British high streets – including more than 400 different ones in the last four years...
Read more....
Got a question about starting a retail business? Ask a Sage Business Expert
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....
Gateshead’s Metrocentre prepares for overnight Intu-fication
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....
North East stores invade London as Metro Outlet heads to Croydon’s ex-Allders
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...
Read more....
Opened on 8 July 1933, what’s become of the ex-Woolworths in Morden?
Regular readers will know that I always enjoy an obscure Woolworths anniversary, and today represents the 80th anniversary of the now-defunct chain opening its 498th store,...
Read more....
