As the retail industry picks up the pace of recovery and benefits from a boom in consumer spending, it has become apparent that simply offering low prices is no longer enough to guarantee bumper profits. Instead, consumers are placing greater stock on levels of customer service and trustworthiness of the brand, meaning that a little personal... Read More
A large number of the UK’s high street banks have in the past year decided to cut branch numbers, believing that this will allow them to run more efficiently and avoid another financial crisis of the type which triggered the recession. However, many customers in rural areas do not agree with this practice, claiming that it fails to take... Read More
The Prime Minster yesterday hinted at radical changes to the business rate system. The Government has already announced a £1,000 discount, which will benefit 300,000 retail properties, along with a wide range of investments designed to boost high streets and local economies. Now it seems that ministers are finally listening to retail... Read More
This week, three men were charged after being caught ‘stealing’ food from bins outside an Iceland store in Kentish Town. Following a public outcry the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) subsequently dropped the charges despite an earlier claim that there was ‘significant public interest’ in pursuing the case against the men. The... Read More
Click and collect has become one of the most popular initiatives within the retail industry, giving consumers the opportunity to order items during their lunch break and pick them up at a store of their choosing at a specified time. Yet while retail chains have largely adapted to this, shopping centres are for the large part yet to cash in on... Read More
Colliers International is inviting offers of £424m for one of its prestige Singapore seafront re-developments sites. The Collyer Quay site is currently occupied by The Arcade, a 20-storey retail and office complex. Completed in 1981, the building has three shopping levels and 16 floors of tenanted office space above a basement car park. It... Read More
The United States has scooped the first ever ranking of the world’s “most dynamic” locations with six of its cities taking top 20 places. First place in the debut City Momentum Index, organised and published by Jones Lang LaSalle, went to San Francisco. The lowest placed US city was Seattle at number 18, with New York, Austin, San... Read More
The battle of the UK supermarkets has hugely intensified since the end of the recession, with consumers now focused upon quality as opposed to seeking bargains. This has meant that Tesco, which undisputedly held the top spot in the supermarket race for many years, has faced a high level of competition from Sainsbury’s which has increased... Read More
London’s feel-good effect is at last spreading to the regions with domestic and international retail chains scrambling to open new stores, according to Britain’s second biggest property company. London office space continues to be in high demand, British Land said in its 2013 third-quarter statement, but it’s a nationwide retail... Read More
Luxury supermarket chain Waitrose, owned by the John Lewis Partnership, will open a total of 26 new stores in 2014, bringing its range of quality goods to new areas in a bid to capitalise on a consumer desire for high quality following several years of thrifty spending as a result the recession. While key rivals, such as Sainsbury’s... Read More
January is a busy time of year for gym chains, with thousands signing up to fulfil New Year’s resolution obligations. However, this boom tends to tail off around the middle of February as the pressures of daily life push finding time to go to the gym down the list of priorities for many new members. It is perhaps surprising, then,... Read More
A surge in cross-sector business confidence is helping to put three East Midlands counties back on track, according to a new report. Buoyed by signs of revival over the past 12 months, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire are all reporting multi-million pound investments and increased construction activity, claims agent Innes... Read More
The Dutch economy — which has gone through three recessions since the 2007 start of the financial crisis — is finally growing again. Boosted by rising property prices and consumer confidence, all the signs are there for a lasting recovery said Dutch Central Bank President Klaas Knot. “We will have to wait for mid-February to see whether... Read More
Since the end of the recession the commercial property market has come on in leaps and bounds with high demand across key economic regions yielding strong results for landlords and property agents. However, as this demand nears its peak smaller businesses are often finding themselves unable to compete with larger companies in terms of rents,... Read More
The Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone will receive an additional £15m in funding to support new development projects. The Zone consists of 26 sites in various locations around the city. Over the next 25 years, they have the potential to deliver 1.3 m square metres of development and create 40,000 jobs within key industries, such as... Read More
Manufacturing giant Dyson has announced a £250 million investment into the firm’s Wiltshire headquarters, doubling the size of the plant and tripling the number of engineers employed on the site. To date, this will be the largest expansion plan in the company’s history and is expected to create new positions for around 3,000 engineers in... Read More
London’s crop of skyscraper restaurants are proving hugely popular with the capital’s diners a respected guide will reveal tomorrow. The 2014 Guide to London’s Best Restaurants and Bars, published by Square Meal, shows that high rise dining was the dominant trend in the market during 2013, with the Shard’s 32nd storey Oblix... Read More
Jamaica Inn hotel — Cornwall’s legendary coaching house immortalised in Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name — is being sold for £2m. Included in the price is the desk on which the novelist wrote Rebecca and several of her other classics. Interest in the 400-year-old Bodmin Moor property, which comes with a smuggling... Read More
Spain — one of Europe’s recession black spots — is at last benefiting from an economic and property upturn, a new report claims. The financial services provider JP Morgan predicts the country’s economy is set to grow by one per cent this year on the back of encouraging industrial output results, exports and consumer spending. It also... Read More
Business owners are being urged to double check their property’s planning permission after a recent Supreme Court ruling backed a council’s right to block off long-standing parking bays and refuse a compensation demand. The “fine print” warning comes from commercial property agents, Prop-Search which claims that thousands of... Read More
Petty rows and territorial disputes are sabotaging the formation of a North-East “super council” and putting thousands of jobs at risk, a group of influential business leaders has claimed. In a joint letter to the Government the consortium of property developers and investment lawyers says that a unified authority would allow them... Read More
Cadbury has this week announced a £75 million investment into its Bourneville headquarters. The Bournville plant has been the home of Cadbury’s since 1879, when company founders George and Richard Cadbury moved all manufacturing from the centre of Birmingham and built 313 homes for factory workers on the site. Since then, the factory has... Read More
