Newspaper retail round up
A round up of the retail stories from the week… Costa Coffee, HMV, John Lewis, Jaeger, Habitat, Tesco, Westfield
Costa Coffee owner set to buy Coffeeheaven
Whitbread, which owns the Costa Coffee chain is considering buying European coffee chain Coffeeheaven for £32m.
HMV sales up
HMV Group posted a 1.6 per cent first-half increase in like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland in spite of weakness in the computer game market.
GIVe to go overseas
George Davies, the retail entrepreneur who opened the GIVe clothing chain this year is already looking at overseas expansion, potentially in India and the Middle East.
Record sales at John Lewis
John Lewis has broken its own records and recorded its best ever sales performance last week.
From The Financial Times
Tesco challenges iTunes with X-factor download
Tesco is challenging Apple’s download site iTunes by selling the X-Factor winner’s single as a download for 29p – less than half the usual price.
From The Telegraph
Habitat sold to Hilco
Habitat was sold by its former Swedish owner to Hilco, the restructuring firm. Chief executive Mark Sunders remains I his role and no store closures are planned by the new owner.
Jaeger ready for Europe
Jaeger, the British luxury fashion brand is negotiating opening a store in Paris, which would be its first European venture for six years.
From The Times
Westfield London facing second revolt from retailers
Retailers at Westfield London are calling for the shopping centre group to cut excessive service charges for the second time this year.
Independent on Sunday
Tesco sparks iPhone war
Tesco has sparked an iPhone price war by announcing it is to sell the Apple handset on a £20 a month contract which works out at £43 cheaper than current providers of the smart phone.
From The Mail on Sunday
Central London sales up but rest of UK poor
In November, like-for-like sales in central London were up 13.3% for November according to the British Retail Consortium but the rest of the country is only seeing sales 1.8% ahead of last year.
US sales up more than expected
American sales are up almost double the value analysts expected in November, signalling a return of consumer confidence and strong performance holiday in the run-up to Christmas following the Thanksgiving holiday.
From The Guardian
