Beauty retailer Space NK will open its first Liverpool store at Liverpool One shopping centre in June. The 1,850sq. ft. store will be the 73rd Space NK store across the UK and Ireland, with over 100 notable brands and make-up and skincare consultations in store. Space NK chief executive Andy Lightfoot said: “The store features our new design, which represents the physical evolution of Space NK: a more customer-centric, welcoming environment with more brands, more choice, more exclusives, all there to be touched and tried, together with our expert staff.”
The retail scheme at Battersea Power Station has recorded 5 million visitors since its opening six months ago. Retail offerings including Under Armour, Swatch and Jigsaw, and leisure sites such as ping pong venue Bounce and Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen, have drawn high visitor numbers. The centre is set to welcome new retail and leisure openings, including a 24,000sq. ft. food hall.
UK retail may face a high building upgrades bill in light of new net zero rules from the government. According to the new standards, 91% of current retail space will be unlettable if it does not have a minimum energy performance rating of C by 2027 and B by 2030. Savills has forecasted that it will cost between £55bn and £90bn to make the necessary upgrades across the UK, with £10bn of this needed just for London.
Waitrose is to launch Gail’s Bakery areas across 64 of its stores in the south and east of England, along with doubling the existing Gail’s range at 95 of its sites. Aileen Kell, bread buyer for Waitrose, said: “Like us Gail’s are passionate about sustainability when it comes to using high quality ingredients, packaging, and recycling so they make a great partner for us as we grow our baked goods business.”