Sainsbury's to boost Scots jobs

Sainsbury's has announced plans to expand in Scotland, creating 1,300 jobs by next summer.

The new posts will be created through new stores at Strathaven in Lanarkshire and Prestwick, in Ayrshire, and the extension of existing shops.

Sainsbury's also said the move would give Scottish suppliers more opportunities to sell their produce.

Sainsbury's has embarked on a nationwide expansion Supermarket giant

The announcement came amid a drive by the company to open 150 convenience stores by 2010-11.

read full article at recession2009 - Food

Obiturtary of the high street and other companies - UPDATED

Please follow the link to see updated list of high street and companies that have gone in administration since January 2008

Obituary of the high street and other companies

Obiturtary of the high street and other companies - UPDATED

Please follow the link to see updated list of high street and companies that have gone in administration since January 2008

Obituary of the high street and other companies

We are in a recession, we have a labour goverment so that all strike

Cadbury workers 'vote on strike'

Cadbury's produces some of the UK's best known chocolate bars Cadbury workers begin voting on possible strike action on Saturday, according to the union Unite. Ballot papers consulting on action will begin to arrive at the homes of workers at the UK's best-known chocolate maker, it said. Unite claims that Cadbury is breaking a long-standing pay deal with workers at its Bourneville, Chirk, Marlbrook and Somerdale plants. About 1,300 people work across the sites, the union said. The ballot will run to 18 August, it added. sourced from THE BBC Postal staff set to strike again The union has warned a national strike could take place Industrial action at the Royal Mail is set to escalate with strike action scheduled for three days next week, the BBC has learned. The strike action on 25, 27 and 28 July comes on top of Friday's one-day walkout by 12,000 Royal Mail employees. The escalating action is in defence of workers who, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) say, are being unduly pressured by Royal Mail managers. The Royal Mail has accused the union of standing in the way of modernisation. 'Illogical cuts' Union members in London and other selected regions are to down tools in the dispute over job cuts and working conditions. This could result in no deliveries of mail on Saturday 25 July, and no work at Royal Mail's London distribution centres on 27 and 28 July, says BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam. The CWU has accused Royal Mail managers of trying to "break the union for good" and accused them of "illogical and arbitrary" job cuts. Deputy General Secretary of the CWU, Dave Ward, said his union recognised that the Royal Mail is "facing huge problems" but said that it had a very different view of what modernisation is needed. The vision that Royal Mail has put to workers involves "endless job cuts, hugely damaging cuts to the service and continuous cuts in our members' pay, pensions and conditions," he said. Paul Tolhurst at the Royal Mail countered that with "mail volumes falling and our profits under huge pressure, there is no real opportunity for us to stop [making] the changes." "Particularly," he added, "as these changes we are trying to put in were agreed with [the union] in 2007." Earlier on Friday, about 400 employees marched on Westminster to deliver letters of protest to the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson. Sell off The Royal Mail is suffering from a big drop in demand for letters as more and more people use the internet to communicate. The government announced last month that it was delaying controversial plans to sell a stake in the postal service to a private company. It maintains that the partial sell off of Royal Mail is required as part of measures to tackle the company's finances - in particular a pensions deficit said to be near £8bn. Lord Mandelson has said the company cannot survive without the sale. The Royal Mail employs more than 150,000 people in the UK, most of whom are represented by the CWU. sourced from THE BBC

We are in a recession, we have a labour goverment so that all strike

Cadbury workers 'vote on strike'

Cadbury's produces some of the UK's best known chocolate bars Cadbury workers begin voting on possible strike action on Saturday, according to the union Unite. Ballot papers consulting on action will begin to arrive at the homes of workers at the UK's best-known chocolate maker, it said. Unite claims that Cadbury is breaking a long-standing pay deal with workers at its Bourneville, Chirk, Marlbrook and Somerdale plants. About 1,300 people work across the sites, the union said. The ballot will run to 18 August, it added. sourced from THE BBC Postal staff set to strike again The union has warned a national strike could take place Industrial action at the Royal Mail is set to escalate with strike action scheduled for three days next week, the BBC has learned. The strike action on 25, 27 and 28 July comes on top of Friday's one-day walkout by 12,000 Royal Mail employees. The escalating action is in defence of workers who, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) say, are being unduly pressured by Royal Mail managers. The Royal Mail has accused the union of standing in the way of modernisation. 'Illogical cuts' Union members in London and other selected regions are to down tools in the dispute over job cuts and working conditions. This could result in no deliveries of mail on Saturday 25 July, and no work at Royal Mail's London distribution centres on 27 and 28 July, says BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam. The CWU has accused Royal Mail managers of trying to "break the union for good" and accused them of "illogical and arbitrary" job cuts. Deputy General Secretary of the CWU, Dave Ward, said his union recognised that the Royal Mail is "facing huge problems" but said that it had a very different view of what modernisation is needed. The vision that Royal Mail has put to workers involves "endless job cuts, hugely damaging cuts to the service and continuous cuts in our members' pay, pensions and conditions," he said. Paul Tolhurst at the Royal Mail countered that with "mail volumes falling and our profits under huge pressure, there is no real opportunity for us to stop [making] the changes." "Particularly," he added, "as these changes we are trying to put in were agreed with [the union] in 2007." Earlier on Friday, about 400 employees marched on Westminster to deliver letters of protest to the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson. Sell off The Royal Mail is suffering from a big drop in demand for letters as more and more people use the internet to communicate. The government announced last month that it was delaying controversial plans to sell a stake in the postal service to a private company. It maintains that the partial sell off of Royal Mail is required as part of measures to tackle the company's finances - in particular a pensions deficit said to be near £8bn. Lord Mandelson has said the company cannot survive without the sale. The Royal Mail employs more than 150,000 people in the UK, most of whom are represented by the CWU. sourced from THE BBC

High street hit by Downturn

The economic downturn has seen high profile failures such as Woolworths, and High Streets across the country are worried about falling sales.

News video from the BBC

Founder on Lush talks about the downturn from the BBC

Founder of Lush Cosmetics Mark Constantine explains why British retail has taken a turn for the worse.

High street hit by Downturn

The economic downturn has seen high profile failures such as Woolworths, and High Streets across the country are worried about falling sales.

News video from the BBC

Founder on Lush talks about the downturn from the BBC

Founder of Lush Cosmetics Mark Constantine explains why British retail has taken a turn for the worse.

Tesco trails after new discount offers backfire

One of the largest supermarket changes in Britain "Tesco" has suffered over the Christmas period. It was the worse performing on the top four supermarkets. This article is in direct contrast to Sainsbury's bumper Christmas sales.

The Article

Tesco will this week report the weakest Christmas trading of the big four supermarkets as doubts set in over its ambition to become "Britain's biggest discounter".

Analysts expect Tesco to post a 2.5% increase in like-for-like sales, lagging behind a field led by Morrisons, with an estimated 9%, nearly 7% at Asda and 4.5% at Sainsbury's.

Last year Tesco introduced a range of discount brands such as "Country Barn" cornflakes and "Daisy" washing up liquid to compete with Aldi and Asda. Analysts fear that the cheaper brands cannibalise sales: because these brands cost less, Tesco must sell more to stand still.

"This is the first big mistake Tesco has made in a decade," said Planet Retail analyst Bryan Roberts.

The supermarkets fared better than non-food specialists during a tough holiday season for the retail sector with results from specialists such as Currys and Argos, also due on Thursday, expected to make grim reading as consumers deferred spending on non-essential items. Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy will say that consumers let go of the purse strings to buy "special" Christmas treats for their families.

read full article sourced from The Observer

Tesco trails after new discount offers backfire

One of the largest supermarket changes in Britain "Tesco" has suffered over the Christmas period. It was the worse performing on the top four supermarkets. This article is in direct contrast to Sainsbury's bumper Christmas sales.

The Article

Tesco will this week report the weakest Christmas trading of the big four supermarkets as doubts set in over its ambition to become "Britain's biggest discounter".

Analysts expect Tesco to post a 2.5% increase in like-for-like sales, lagging behind a field led by Morrisons, with an estimated 9%, nearly 7% at Asda and 4.5% at Sainsbury's.

Last year Tesco introduced a range of discount brands such as "Country Barn" cornflakes and "Daisy" washing up liquid to compete with Aldi and Asda. Analysts fear that the cheaper brands cannibalise sales: because these brands cost less, Tesco must sell more to stand still.

"This is the first big mistake Tesco has made in a decade," said Planet Retail analyst Bryan Roberts.

The supermarkets fared better than non-food specialists during a tough holiday season for the retail sector with results from specialists such as Currys and Argos, also due on Thursday, expected to make grim reading as consumers deferred spending on non-essential items. Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy will say that consumers let go of the purse strings to buy "special" Christmas treats for their families.

read full article sourced from The Observer

Sales slide at Currys and Argos

When I read this article, it really does real like the downturn is having a major effect. You would expect a lot of small retail shops to close and the odd big one like Woolworth, but here we are facing the end of Argos, Currys and PC world - so all those out of town retail parks will soon be very empty.

The article

Sales at several of Britain's top retail chains have fallen markedly as a result of the economic slowdown.

DSG International, which owns Currys and PC World, said like-for-like sales - which ignore new stores - had dropped 10% in the three months to 10 January.

Home Retail Group said like-for-like sales at its Argos chain had fallen 7.5% in the 18 weeks to 3 January.

DIY chain Homebase, which is also owned by Home Retail Group, saw like-for-like sales in the same period drop 10.2%.

Many retailers are struggling as consumers cut back on spending amid rising jobless figures, falling house prices and recession worries.

read more sourced from the BBC

Sales slide at Currys and Argos

When I read this article, it really does real like the downturn is having a major effect. You would expect a lot of small retail shops to close and the odd big one like Woolworth, but here we are facing the end of Argos, Currys and PC world - so all those out of town retail parks will soon be very empty.

The article

Sales at several of Britain's top retail chains have fallen markedly as a result of the economic slowdown.

DSG International, which owns Currys and PC World, said like-for-like sales - which ignore new stores - had dropped 10% in the three months to 10 January.

Home Retail Group said like-for-like sales at its Argos chain had fallen 7.5% in the 18 weeks to 3 January.

DIY chain Homebase, which is also owned by Home Retail Group, saw like-for-like sales in the same period drop 10.2%.

Many retailers are struggling as consumers cut back on spending amid rising jobless figures, falling house prices and recession worries.

read more sourced from the BBC

Goodbye Woolworth

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AimzRDZvvgA]

Watch a news article from the BBC relating to the closing downing down of Woolworth.

The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's) was a retail American company that was one of the original five-and-dime stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded, with a loan of $300, in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth. Despite growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s. In 1997, F. W. Woolworth Company converted itself into a sporting goods retailer, closing its remaining retail stores operating under the "Woolworth's" brand name and renaming itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the present Foot Locker Inc (NYSE: FL). Company that was one of the original

Retail chains using the Woolworth name survive in Germany, Austria, Mexico, and South Africa, and, until the end of 2008, in the United Kingdom. The similarly-named Woolworth's supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Woolworths Limited, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc. However, this company did take the name from F. W. Woolworth as it had global appeal. sourced from Wikipedia

Woolworths in store closure sales

Woolworths branch Woolworths went into administration last month Woolworths is to hold a store closure sale in all its 815 outlets from Thursday amid growing concern that a buyer will not be found for the firm.

Woolworths went into administration last month

Administrator Deloitte said that if no offers for Woolworths were forthcoming, "it is possible that some stores may close before the end of December".

It added that it would consult with the retailer's 30,000 staff over support available in the event of redundancies.  read full article

Goodbye Woolworth

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AimzRDZvvgA]

Watch a news article from the BBC relating to the closing downing down of Woolworth.

The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's) was a retail American company that was one of the original five-and-dime stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded, with a loan of $300, in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth. Despite growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s. In 1997, F. W. Woolworth Company converted itself into a sporting goods retailer, closing its remaining retail stores operating under the "Woolworth's" brand name and renaming itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the present Foot Locker Inc (NYSE: FL). Company that was one of the original

Retail chains using the Woolworth name survive in Germany, Austria, Mexico, and South Africa, and, until the end of 2008, in the United Kingdom. The similarly-named Woolworth's supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Woolworths Limited, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc. However, this company did take the name from F. W. Woolworth as it had global appeal. sourced from Wikipedia

Woolworths in store closure sales

Woolworths branch Woolworths went into administration last month Woolworths is to hold a store closure sale in all its 815 outlets from Thursday amid growing concern that a buyer will not be found for the firm.

Woolworths went into administration last month

Administrator Deloitte said that if no offers for Woolworths were forthcoming, "it is possible that some stores may close before the end of December".

It added that it would consult with the retailer's 30,000 staff over support available in the event of redundancies.  read full article

HMV to snap up some Zavvi stores

Entertainment retailer HMV has said it is to buy 14 stores from troubled chain Zavvi, funded by selling new shares.

Proceeds will also be used to fund a move into the live music market, taking a joint stake in a firm running 11 venues such as Hammersmith Apollo.

It will also get naming rights to some of the venues.

HMV also said that sales in the five weeks to 3 January - which includes the Christmas period - were up by 2.9%, or by 0.5% not including new stores.

Rebranding

The Zavvi stores it is buying are all profitable, HMV said, primarily in locations where it does not currently have a store.

It expects the cost of the purchase to be about £2m - including fitting out and rebranding the stores. Nine of them are in the UK and five in the Irish Republic.

read full article at The BBC

HMV to snap up some Zavvi stores

Entertainment retailer HMV has said it is to buy 14 stores from troubled chain Zavvi, funded by selling new shares.

Proceeds will also be used to fund a move into the live music market, taking a joint stake in a firm running 11 venues such as Hammersmith Apollo.

It will also get naming rights to some of the venues.

HMV also said that sales in the five weeks to 3 January - which includes the Christmas period - were up by 2.9%, or by 0.5% not including new stores.

Rebranding

The Zavvi stores it is buying are all profitable, HMV said, primarily in locations where it does not currently have a store.

It expects the cost of the purchase to be about £2m - including fitting out and rebranding the stores. Nine of them are in the UK and five in the Irish Republic.

read full article at The BBC

Obituary of the high street

I have created this page as a kind of joke, but I will update this as other high street shops fall into administration.

Let me know if you know of any other shops no longer operating - regardless of how big or small.

Obituary of the high street list

Obituary of the high street

I have created this page as a kind of joke, but I will update this as other high street shops fall into administration.

Let me know if you know of any other shops no longer operating - regardless of how big or small.

Obituary of the high street list

Land of Leather latest UK retail collapse

LONDON -- Sofa retailer Land of Leather filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, becoming the latest British retailer to succumb to a downturn in consumer spending amid the global economic slowdown.

Land of Leather, which operates 109 retail stores across Britain and Ireland, entered the administration process _ where a company is run independently with the priority of returning funds to creditors _ after failing to raise working capital or find a buyer.

Lee Manning, one of the appointed administrators at Deloitte said that the company's stores would continue to trade as normal "while the administrators continue to talk to interested parties with a view to concluding a sale of the business as a going concern."

Land of Leather said it had found itself in challenging market conditions "for some time" as a result of the credit crunch and a lack of household spending on big ticket retail items. sourced from The Washington Post read more

My comment

This is the first of these kind of shops to go, I think we will be seeing a lot more interior / furniture / house hold accessories - Now we have all bought cushions, rugs, lampshades and kitchen's, all these shops that have opened up on the strength of the ideal home / interior design period will all start suffering. Lets all start being individual, make cushions from old materials or clothes rather then buying new ones. Thing more creatively around our homes and their interiors.

Land of Leather latest UK retail collapse

LONDON -- Sofa retailer Land of Leather filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, becoming the latest British retailer to succumb to a downturn in consumer spending amid the global economic slowdown.

Land of Leather, which operates 109 retail stores across Britain and Ireland, entered the administration process _ where a company is run independently with the priority of returning funds to creditors _ after failing to raise working capital or find a buyer.

Lee Manning, one of the appointed administrators at Deloitte said that the company's stores would continue to trade as normal "while the administrators continue to talk to interested parties with a view to concluding a sale of the business as a going concern."

Land of Leather said it had found itself in challenging market conditions "for some time" as a result of the credit crunch and a lack of household spending on big ticket retail items. sourced from The Washington Post read more

My comment

This is the first of these kind of shops to go, I think we will be seeing a lot more interior / furniture / house hold accessories - Now we have all bought cushions, rugs, lampshades and kitchen's, all these shops that have opened up on the strength of the ideal home / interior design period will all start suffering. Lets all start being individual, make cushions from old materials or clothes rather then buying new ones. Thing more creatively around our homes and their interiors.

Q&A: What is a recession?

The dreaded R-word - recession - is in the air as every day seems to bring more gloomy economic news.

Many commentators are now openly talking about the current slowdown turning into a recession.

But how do economists define a recession and when will we know if the UK is going through one?

What is the definition of a recession?

This is a thorny question on which experts still disagree.

However, technically speaking, the UK economy would slide into recession when it experiences two successive quarters of what is known as "negative growth".

For this to happen, the total amount of goods and services produced by the UK - known as gross domestic product (GDP) - would have to contract on a quarter by quarter basis for a total period of six months.

read full article at The BBC