Newspaper retail round-up

A roundup of retail stories in the newspapers this week… Sainsbury’s, WH Smith, Supergroup, Wal-Mart, Waitrose, John Lewis, Waterstone’s, LVMH.

From The Times:

Sainsbury’s abandons hope of arrival at King’s Cross

Sainsbury’s plans to relocate its London head office from Holborn to King’s Cross in a bid to halve its £16m annual office rent have been scrapped.

WH Smith buys 22 bookshops

WH Smith has bought 22 former British Bookshops and Stationers stores for £1m after the chain fell into administration in January.

From The Financial Times:

Supergroup’s rapid expansion boosts sales

Rapidly growing fashion retailer Supergroup almost doubled sales in the three months to the end of January with expansion into the Westfield Centre in London and the Trafford centre in Manchester

Moss Bros to offer bespoke tailor service

Moss BRos is to offer bespoke tailoring services in 50 UK stores of the high street men’s wear retailer. It will be funded by the £16.5m sale of its 15 Hugo Boss franchise stores.

Wal-Mart rises in digital battle

Wal-Mart is aggressively discounting the cost of digital films as it competes with Apple in an intensifying battle over the future of the entertainment industry.

From The Telegraph:

Waitrose duck supplier accused of cruelty

Waitrose, which prides itself on its high animal welfare standards, has suspended a contract with a free-range duck farm after under cover filming revealed “inhumane” conditions.

John Lewis ’bottom slapper’ ruled to be a motherly, tactile Italian lady

A John Lewis shop assistant accused of inappropriately slapping a male colleague’s bottom has been cleared after a tribunal ruled that she was merely a “tactile” Italian woman.

From The Guardian:

Clas Ohlson: the next Swedish export looking to conquer Britain

The hardware chain, based in a tiny Swedish village three hours from Stockholm, already has 11 UK stores but sees potential for hundreds more.

Waterstone mulls bid for bookshops that bear his name

Shares in parent company HMV rise as speculation mounts about intentions of entrepreneur turned novelist Tim Waterstone towards the chain with the same name.

LVMH toasts ’vintage year’ as champagne and handbag sales soar

LVMH, whose brands include Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Dom Pérignon, said revenues soared to a record high of €20.3bn in 2010, helped by surging demand from China.

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Best Buy admits UK launch lacked impact

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