Greggs to reopen 800 shops this week as baker rolls out lockdown exit plan June 16, 2020 It has been a long time since you could get your hands on Greggs’ famous vegan sausage rolls – but the wait will finally come to an end this week. Greggs is to reopen 800 shops on Thursday, having successfully trialled social distancing measures in a small number of stores, with the remaining 1,250 shops early [...]
Restaurant bosses call for VAT cut as dining out sector braces for difficult return to business June 16, 2020 Restaurant industry bosses have today urged Boris Johnson to take drastic action, including slashing VAT on the food they serve, to help the struggling sector survive the effects of coronavirus. In a letter signed by the bosses of 90 major chains, Deliveroo founder Will Shu said that the government should also extend its job retention [...]
DEBATE: Are shoppers ready to go back? June 15, 2020 Are Brits really ready to go back to the shops? Georgina Nelson, chief executive and founder of TruRating, says YES. While it would be hard to argue that there won’t be some degree of caution as non-essential retail opens its doors again this week, from the evidence we’ve seen, there is a desire to get [...]
High street footfall jumps 50 per cent as shops reopen for business June 15, 2020 Britain’s high streets have enjoyed a 52 per cent jump in footfall this morning, after shops opened their doors for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed in March. So-called non-essential retailers reopened this morning after the much-anticipated easing of lockdown measures by the government. According to Springboard data, footfall across all retail destinations [...]
Treasury mulls over temporary VAT cut to boost economy June 15, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering a temporary VAT cut to help boost consumer demand and confidence. The Treasury is considering either a blanket cut in VAT or a more targeted reduction in a bid to stimulate the faltering economy. The measure would mirror the temporary VAT cut taken by former chancellor Alastair Darling during the [...]
Shops reopen to long queues as social distancing measures come into force June 15, 2020 Retailers this morning flung open their doors to the public for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed in March. People formed long queues outside Primark outlets in London and Birmingham this morning before the shops reopened at 8am, in a signal that despite fears that footfall would be low initially, there was [...]
Cineworld sparks legal row by pulling out of £1.6bn Cineplex takeover June 15, 2020 Cineworld has pulled out of its £1.6bn deal to become the biggest cinema chain in America, sparking bitterness and the potential of a legal battle. The London-listed company claims Cineplex, Canada’s biggest cinema chain, has suffered a “material adverse effect” under the terms of the deal, which included a ceiling of $725m (£578m) on its [...]
H&M sales halve during lockdown months as retailer hopes for June recovery June 15, 2020 Sales at H&M halved during the second quarter of the year, after the coronavirus lockdown forced it to close four-fifths of its global stores during the outbreak. The world’s second-biggest fashion retailer’s net sales for the three months to 31 May were 28.7bn crowns (£2.45bn), 50 per cent lower than the same period last year. [...]
Three in ten independent retailers to stay shut today June 15, 2020 Thirty per cent of independent retailers are planning to keep their doors closed today, as lockdown restrictions ease and allow some shops to reopen. Just over a third of stores predicted they would be trading at pre-lockdown levels by December 2020, rising to 56 per cent who felt they would be back to normal by [...]
Shorter hours and portable loos: How London’s West End is reopening shops after lockdown June 15, 2020 The West End was one of the first areas of London to suffer the economic damage wrought by coronavirus, even before lockdown. By mid-February, people were already avoiding the usually bustling restaurants of Chinatown, following false reports that the disease could be caught more easily there. Now, after months of lockdown-induced hibernation, businesses across the [...]