RETAIL AND LEISURE
intu Lakeside will see the first standalone beauty store from Harrods as they look to take advantage of the recent misfortunes of department stores. H Beauty will take a 23,000 sq ft store that is expected to open in April next year with a second store planned in Milton Keynes.
Boparan Restaurant Group is to open its sixth Slim Chickens restaurant as part of its continued expansion plans. The new site is believed to be in Cabot Circus, Bristol in their former Giraffe site. BRG has said they have “ambitious growth plans” with more sites planned in key cities across the UK.
H&M Home has opened a 21,500 sq ft store in Birmingham’s Bullring, their first outside London. The store will cover three levels and will offer the brand’s fashion ranges as well as lifestyle and homeware products.
Formal menswear independent retailer Master Debonair is to open a 1,000 sq ft store Chesterfield, Derbyshire next week with plans to open three to six more stores in different locations within six months.
PROPERTY
Tikehau Capital has bought The Walnuts Shopping Centre in Orpington as part of their strategy to strengthen their development activities in the UK. The centre has 58 stores, an Odeon cinema and an 83-room Premier Inn hotel and is the second acquisition for Tikehau Capital having acquired Nicholsons shopping centre in Maidenhead earlier this year. UK-based urban regeneration specialist will work as an operating partner as it did for Nicholsons.
Admiral Taverns are set to expand once more, following their acquisition of 150 venues from Star Pubs and Bars in September, after agreeing to buy a portfolio of 137 pubs from brewery giant Marston’s in a deal valued at £44.9m. The sites are smaller wet-led leased, tenanted and franchised pubs.
CVAS AND ADMINISTRATIONS
Mothercare announced on Monday that their UK arm will be placed into administration. 55 stores were closed during the CVA process leaving 79 stores and around 2,800 staff. In a statement from PwC it was confirmed that all stores would be ‘wound down over the coming weeks and months’ with retail and head office employees losing their jobs but the distribution staff and the overseas arm will be unaffected.
Gift and cards retailer Clintons will be holding talks with landlords next week to discuss store closures and rent cuts with a view to making a decision about a potential CVA that could affect dozens of the remaining 330 Clintons’ UK stores.
CLICKS-TO-BRICKS
Online independent wine retailer Novel Wines is to open its first bricks and mortar store in Bath in the aptly named Cork Place. Co-owners Ben Franks and Gyorgy Zsiga have been operating online for three years and are hoping to be open by the weekend.
Xupes, a specialist pre-owned premium goods e-tailer is to open their first store by London’s Royal Exchange. Situated adjacent to Hermès and Louis Vuitton they will sell a collection of pre-owned watches, handbags, jewellery and artworks as well as purchasing items directly from customers to sell on their behalf.
SHOPS-IN-SHOPS
Selfridges has opened a permanent second-hand resale space at its Oxford Street flagship store. The boutique, run by Vestiaire Collective, gives customers the opportunity to deposit items through the concierge service and the Vestiaire Collective app.
Gieves and Hawkes has announced the opening of the Ettinger Accessories Room that will see the luxury British leather goods and accessories on sale within the iconic store at No 1 Savile Row.
Sainsbury’s has launched a concession tie-up with Fat Face as it continues to bring third-party retailers and services into its larger stores. The pilot stores, in Sydenham, south London and Calcot, Reading, will be open in time for the Black Friday and Christmas trading periods.
RETAIL PARK AND SHOPPING CENTRE OPENINGS
Livingston Designer Outlet has signed four premium brands - Osprey London, Molton Brown, Portmeirion and Hotter will take a combined 6,257 sq ft in Scotlands largest outlet scheme: centre:mk is to welcome Skechers and Neon Sheep: Swindon’s North Star retail and leisure scheme has signed KFC, Gravity Fitness and UK Research and Innovation, joining Hollywood Bowl, Empire Cinemas and The Snow Centre for their leisure offering: St Johns Centre in Leeds has seen HMV sign a five-year lease as well as Yorkshire independent menswear retailer Hype for its first ‘Tom Silk’ store and Calendar Club are also planning a pop-up store selling Christmas gifts.