The business side of UK retail: sales figures, shop closures, new store openings, takeovers and the chains behind them. Not product reviews — those live in the section the product belongs to.
Nineteen shops closed in September alone, part of up to 150 sanctioned in the High Court. Old WHSmith gift cards stopped working in them on 28 June 2026, and the Post Office counter can close before the shop does.
Frasers Group bought the retail park, so Dobbies is shutting Antrim in October. The company is solvent and nothing is cancelled — but cards, hot drinks, events and the plant guarantee are all redeemed in store, and the nearest one is now Lisburn.
A flat 20p refundable deposit lands on every can and plastic drinks bottle from 1 October 2027. Glass is out across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, plastic milk bottles are out everywhere, and a crushed can will not scan for a refund.
IKEA says it has spent £54m permanently lowering prices on 435 UK products, part of a wider €1.2bn push across Europe. But the same announcement includes over a thousand temporary in-store offers, and reports disagree on which is which.
The £666.5m headline is an estimate covering the year to June 2025, published by a firm that sells lockers. The useful part: under the Consumer Rights Act the loss is the seller's — unless you asked for a safe place.
Shop prices rose 1.5% in the year to August, the fastest in over two years. Food did most of it at 2.8%, and the cupboard shop rose faster than the fresh one.
Two administrations, every standalone UK shop shut in April, about 1,300 jobs gone — and 356 concessions that never closed at all. The distinction matters at the till.
Administration in 2023, sold to its biggest rival, and stopped taking orders in November 2024. What happened to the guarantees, and the two ASA rulings worth knowing about.
A name, a website and a customer list. No shops, no stock, no staff. Five years on, the name has swallowed the company that bought it.
Auto Trader is where the buyers are, and the only major route charging you before anything sells. Advert prices, the free auction and valuation routes, fees against Motorway, webuyanycar, eBay and Facebook, and Trustpilot with its sample size.
A 242-year-old chain filed twice in nineteen months and ran out of buyers three weeks before Christmas. What happened, and where the name ended up by 2026.
Checked and confirmed trading in September 2026, owned by Highbourne Group since 2022. Free parcel delivery, 365 days to change your mind, 4.8/5 from 77,295 Trustpilot reviews — but you pay to send it back, and a specialist courier wants £99 for a bath.
