RETAIL AND LEISURE
Italian restaurant chain Chucs is to open their fifth site next month on Belgravia’s Eccleston Street with two further openings in the pipeline. The latest store will serve 55 covers and room for more than 100 standing. Two further sites are expected to launch this year and will operate under the recently established casual dining café concept.
Menswear retailer Luke 1997 is on target to hit their goal of 20 physical retail stores by the end of 2020 with new openings in Cheshire and Sheffield’s Meadowhall next month. A Bicester store is expected in early April and the fourth at the West Midlands Designer Centre in September.
PROPERTY
Rioja Developments and family-owned property investor Buckminster are to showcase their plans for the 270,000 sq ft Grantham Designer Outlet Village at MAPIC in Cannes next month. The scheme will feature 130 stores creating around 1,500 jobs and is due to open in summer 2021.
Fuller, Smith & Turner have acquired a collection of seven freehold country inns and hotels and eight freehold staff cottages in the Cotswolds along with two leasehold bars in Birmingham city centre in a deal valued at £40m. The Broadway Hotel, the eighth hotel in the chain, will not form part of the deal and will be retained by the current owner.
CVAS & ADMINISTRATIONS
Good Egg Restaurants, the London-based ‘neighbourhood’ restaurants, have confirmed that business will continue as normal following an administration process. The two sites in Soho and Stoke Newington remain profitable and the company have said that it will retain all staff as it continues with the “ongoing development of The Good Egg brand”.
Regis UK, the owner of Supercuts & Regis hairdressing chains, has appointed Deloitte as administrators putting 1,200 jobs at risk. The 220-salon business will continue to trade while a buyer is sought.
Peruvian restaurant group Ceviche that operate under the Ceviche and Andina brands has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. Operating from six sites founder Martin Morales is working with RSM to find a last-minute buyer for the London-based business.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Chef Neil Rankin, who is behind meat focussed concepts, Smokehouse, Temper and Pitt Cue has spent eight months developing a plant-based burger to launch plant-based restaurant Simplicity Burger in Brick Lane, Shoreditch this week.
Liverpool ONE has seen the opening of the debut site for American-Italian restaurant Smoke & Dough. All tables at Smoke & Dough will feature a lava coal pit to grill the meats to customers’ own preferences.
New York-based fashion retailer Untuckit is to open two stores in the UK next month. The brand, best known for selling shirts that are made to be worn untucked, are launching in Covent Garden and Westfield London as part of their worldwide expansion programme.
STAYING RELEVANT
20 years after it launched in Soho, Thai restaurant group Busaba is undergoing a rebrand that will see a reworked menu design, logo and team uniforms across their 13 London sites. In November the rebrand will also see a special menu reviving a selection of Busaba’s most popular dishes from the past 20 years, including chilli prawn rice (1999), jungle curry (2006) and crab claw po (2010).
Japanese food business YO! is to remove its conveyor belt from their Manchester Piccadilly station site and trial an express format restaurant for customers on the go. It will mainly serve trays of sushi from a fridge as well as some hot food, the site will offer a small number of seats but will be geared towards takeaway customers to compete with the likes of Wasabi and Itsu.
Located at 425 Oxford Street, sportswear retailer Adidas has unveiled its most digitally enhanced retail experience with a flagship LDN store. Hoping to reimagine its retail offering the store combines digital innovation, unique shopping experiences and a focus on in-store experts.
O2 are trialling a new experimental store format in four Next stores whilst it considers rolling out the concept to more stores. Spanning around 650 sq ft the shop-in-shops will be in prominent positions on ground or first floors. Southampton and Warrington sites have already opened with Swindon and Nottingham to open in November.
POP-UPS
Red-carpet designer womenswear brand DUNDAS will be at 50a Sloane Street until Jan 20th - following the success of its pop-up in Selfridges. Harrogate’s Victoria Centre will see the Harrogate Homeless Project Pop-up Shop from 4th-16th November. British clothing brand Joules is opening in the Beckworth Emporium near Sywell for the festive season. Dig Vinyl, an independent record store, will be at Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool for 6 months selling both new and vintage stock and memorabilia.
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