Boxing Day footfall was up by more than a third on the UK’s high streets despite train strikes and the cost-of-living crisis.

Concerns had been raised that strikes and tightening budgets could scare consumers away from shopping destinations on the first day of the sales.

But industry analyst Springboard said data from Monday showed footfall was 38.8% higher than last year.

There were increases across all three key retail destination types compared with the same period in 2021.

On high streets it was up by 44.1%, in shopping centres by 40.4%, and in retail parks by 25.9%.

Central London, which has been hit hard by industrial action by transport unions, saw footfall more than double on Boxing Day. The figure for London was just 7.8% lower than the same day in 2019.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said a likely factor in the increase was that Boxing Day 2021

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Matalan has announced further details regarding its ongoing sale, confirming that it has “received bids from a number of interested parties”.

The company is currently assessing all the tabled bids. Discussions are also continuing with interested parties and their advisers.

The retailer said that it’s looking to complete the sales process by the end of January 2023 and will provide a comprehensive update to the market at such time.

It added that the ad hoc group of existing First Lien Noteholders, which are represented by Invesco, Man GLG, Napier Park and Tresidor, reconfirmed its commitment to a recapitalisation if necessary.

In a statement, Matalan said: “All transactions under consideration provide for a material reduction of Matalan’s debt.

“The stable and sustainable balance sheet will put the company in a position of financial strength, allowing it to execute on its business plan and deliver its growth strategy. The outcome of the

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Atterley, the online marketplace for premium independent boutiques, has appointed administrators and ceased trading on its website. 

In a statement on its website this morning, Edinburgh-based Atterley announced that Brian Milne and David McGinness of French Duncan have been appointed as joint provisional liquidators.

Commenting on the news, Atterley.com Holdings said: “With deep and sincere regret, staff at Atterley were informed this morning that we will be starting a formal redundancy consultation with them.

“The reason is that some of the shareholders of the business could not justify further investment. This is related to the overall economic climate and in particularly a squeeze on consumer spending, linked to inflationary pressure.

“The four main shareholders of Atterley had invested £1.8 million since April, including over half from [founder] Mike Welch. A bank was appointed to seek external funding or strategic opportunities, and we committed to that process. Last week, it

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December is typically a busy month for the retail sector, with the festive season boosting footfall, new stores and discounts across the UK.

However, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, rail strikes, postal strikes, and snowy weather presented challenges for both businesses and consumers this month.

Despite challenges, it has been predicted that around £9.21 billion worth of purchases will be made by 103.6 million shoppers during the week before Christmas.

TheIndustry.fashion has curated a list of the all the retail stores that have opened this month, as well as a number of partnerships from brands including ASOS, Inditex and Scotch & Soda.

Store openings

Marks & Spencer to open at Liverpool ONE

Marks & Spencer announced the opening of a new store at Liverpool ONE in mid-2023. The retailer is relocating from Church Street to create a new 100,000 sq ft store across two floors of the former Debenhams store

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2022 has seen a lot of change in the fashion and retail industry, with several high profile businesses opening new retail locations, incorporating new technology, and refurbishing stores.

As we approach 2023, TheIndustry.fashion has curated a list of the top ten important updates and openings from the past year. Each headline directs to further information on the appointment.

2022 // Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station opens to the public

Nearly 40 years after the London icon turned its lights off, Battersea Power Station reopened in October, opening to the public for the first time. Visitors are free to explore the restored landmark and enjoy the first of its unique shops, bars, restaurants and leisure venues.

Electric Boulevard, a new pedestrianised high street, running between Gehry Partners’ Prospect Place to the Zone 1 London Underground Station, also opened.

One notable store opening was Zara’s new flagship store. The tech-driven store, which at

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Fashion retail has been tested beyond reasonable limits in 2023. A cost of living crisis, supply chain strife, rising costs, war, strikes and extreme weather have wreaked havoc on a market that was still reeling from a global pandemic that forced lengthy store closures and fundamentally changed the way people lived and worked (and therefore the way they shopped and dressed).

A number of big names disappeared from our high street altogether during the pandemic but the fall-out provided plenty of opportunity for the more financially and operationally stable businesses in the market. After a flurry of M&A activity in 2021, 2022 proved equally as interesting and already the seeds have been sown for more high profile deals in 2023.

Below we round up for some of the most significant moves of the past 12 months (most of them involved Frasers Group!) and take a look ahead at what we

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2022 has seen a lot of change in the fashion and retail industry, with several high profile businesses changing leaders, appointing new executives, and launching new strategies.

As we approach 2023, TheIndustry.fashion has curated a list of the most important appointments from the past year. Each headline directs to further information on the appointment.

Matchesfashion appoints former ASOS chief Nick Beighton as CEO

In July 2022, the luxury online fashion destination named former ASOS CEO Nick Beighton has its new CEO. Beighton took over from Paolo de Cesare, the former Printemps Group president who was appointed CEO 10 months prior.

Talking about his appointment, Beighton said: “Using technology, product, logistics and culture, I have helped disrupt existing consumer patterns and galvanise change in organisations and I hope to bring these skills to my new role.”

Joe Browns appoints ex-JD Sports COO Peter Alecock as CEO

Yorkshire-based fashion and homeware retailer

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Following months of consistent negative growth against a backdrop of continued challenges, including the cost-of-living crisis and postal strikes, Black Friday “brought retailers a small sigh of relief”.

According the IMRG Capgemini Sales Index, retailers collectively defied the odds and achieved +0.7% year-on-year growth in November. While that figure is low and suggests some customer hesitancy, it marks the first moment of positive-territory growth in the index since April 2021.

Traffic to online retail sites peaked at +2.7% year-on-year in the week commencing 13 November 2022, predominantly owed to early Black Friday activations, which were particularly strong across beauty, home and electrical products. However, there was a decline in traffic in the week commencing 20 November, at -6.1% year-on-year, signalling customers’ response to early campaigning.

As predicted, the number of retailers launching Black Friday campaigns was higher this year. However, the early activations did not deliver increased revenue. When comparing

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JD Sports has offloaded a raft of “non-core” premium fashion brands, including Giulio, Cricket, Pretty Green and Tessuti, to fellow listed fashion group Frasers.

The move comes after a strategic review of JD Sports by its new CEO Régis Shultz who joined the business from Al-Futtaim Group in August of this year.

Some 15 brands form part of the deal which were sold to Frasers for an aggregate cash consideration of up to £47.5m. Completion on the acquisition of shares in eight of the divested businesses and on the acquisition of all of the debt owing to JD by the divested businesses took place immediately on exchange with completion on the acquisition of shares in the remaining seven businesses expected in early 2023. 

JD Sports said the move would allow the business to focus on opportunities elsewhere in its group, such as in particular the international and digital expansion

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Marks & Spencer has appointed former Boohoo Group and Topman managing director Mitch Hughes to the role of director of menswear as current director of menswear and kidswear Wes Taylor retires from a full-time executive career.

Hughes has most recently been managing director at Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton since their acquisition by Boohoo Group from the former Arcadia fashion empire in April 2021. Prior to that he was managing director at the then Arcadia-owned Topman and has held senior roles at Burton and Matalan; he also spent more than eight years as a buyer for Marks & Spencer from 1997 to 2005.

While at Boohoo Group, Hughes structured and reset all three of the former Arcadia brands to be online-only entities but also has extensive physical retail experience from his time at Arcadia, Matalan and his first stint at M&S.

“I’m hugely excited to be re-joining the business after

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