Fri Nov 04, 2016 3:31 pm
Marks & Spencer to axe dozens of high street stores in Rowe revamp
The new boss of Marks & Spencer (M&S) is to axe dozens of UK stores and stop selling clothing in others in a radical shake-up of its high street presence aimed at persuading the City that he can revive the fortunes of Britain’s best-known retailer.
Sky News has learnt that Steve Rowe, who took the helm at M&S earlier this year, will announce next week that a substantial chunk of its UK store portfolio is to be reorganised, a move that will include the outright closure of a significant number of shops.
Sources said on Friday that the closures, which will take place over several years, would number "in the low dozens", while other stores will see space reallocated from clothing to its more successful food operations.
A number of other stores are expected to be relocated.
That will mean M&S's clothing range being sold in a substantially smaller number of shops, which one retail analyst described as "a seismic shift" for the company.
Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:36 pm
Tue Nov 29, 2016 4:36 pm
Poundland could close Coventry city centre store
One of Poundland’s Coventry shops could be set to close its doors as the company’s new owner looks to reduce its store portfolio.
Poundland is believed to be considering closing 80 of its 900 stores, according to reports in the Daily Telegraph, with its Coventry Hertford Street store among those earmarked for closure.
Poundland currently has two stores in close proximity in the city centre, with outlets in both Market Way and Hertford Street.
The budget retailer also has a store at Coventry’s Central Six Retail Park, as well as stores in Leamington and Kenilworth.
A Poundland spokesperson said the retailer “continues to look at optimising its estate in the wake of its acquisition of the 99p Stores chain”.
Stores under threat are believed to have been identified because of duplication following Poundland’s £55m acquisition of the 251-strong 99p Stores chain last year.
When the Poundland/99p Stores deal was first mooted reports suggested up to 80 stores may have to be sold to satisfy the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
However the CMA approved the deal without requiring any stores to be given up, suggesting the proposed store sell-off is a Poundland rationalisation move.
Wed Jan 25, 2017 6:08 pm
Yorkshire building society to close 48 branches and ditch current accounts
Yorkshire building society is closing 48 branches in a move it partly blamed on “an increasing desire among customers to transact digitally rather than on the high street”.
The announcement came 24 hours after HSBC said it would be shutting another 62 branches this year, on top of 55 already earmarked for closure.
The Yorkshire, Britain’s second largest building society, will quit the current account market in order to concentrate on mortgages and savings. It will also ditch the Norwich & Peterborough brand from the high street, having taken it over in 2011.
The society said the moves were designed to deliver better long-term value to its 3.3 million customers. The group aims to close 20 Yorkshire branches in May, and 28 N&P outlets from September. This would reduce the total number of branches and agencies from 308 to 260.
Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:21 pm
Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:13 pm
flapdoodle wrote:Who uses banks these days?
Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:38 pm
Thu Jan 26, 2017 12:12 am
flapdoodle wrote:So we're supposed to believe you because you saw a queue in Lloyds, but not HSBC because 'she would say that'?
Thu Jan 26, 2017 10:16 am
flapdoodle wrote:Who uses banks these days?
Thu Jan 26, 2017 2:10 pm