This week's retail news 'you may have missed'.....
At mdj2, we’re passionate about retail and always looking to share our news, views, and insights. With so much information out there, we wanted to share just a small selection of retail news headlines from last week that we found interesting…??
Wren Kitchens partners with The Home Depot.
In a strategic move, Wren Kitchens has begun opening showrooms within The Home Depot stores in the USA.
The showrooms are branded Wren Kitchens Studio, and are currently operating from within the following?Home Depot stores:?
It is understood that over 100 showrooms are planned for the next three years.?Wren currently operates 14 independent stores across the states of?Connecticut, New?Jersey,?New York and Pennsylvania.
A spokesperson for Wren told Insight DIY:?
"We’re excited by our?collaboration with The Home Depot.? Our two businesses have a similar outlook and culture and for some time now we’ve been exploring ways of working together. We believe that between us, we can provide a unique experience to those customers looking to remodel their kitchens."
While the LinkedIn and media pages of Wren Kitchens and The Home Depot remain quiet on the partnership, the US Wren Kitchens website has a page with the taglines:
"Now working in collaboration.?The perfect kitchen, brought to you by Wren and The Home Depot," and "Working together to revolutionize the kitchen industry.?Factory Direct to save you time and money," along with links to arrange either a home, showroom or online design visit.
A customer-focused video showing a?Wren Kitchens Studio inside The Home Depot, highlighting Wren's showroom experience, is available here:?www.wrenkitchens.com/us/home-depot
Wren first announced its?US store and manufacturing facility plans?in February 2020, confirming its intention to open its first store later that year.? In November 2020,?Wren announced the opening of its Milford, Connecticut, store, and shared that it had invested $15.4million into a state-of-the-art, 252,000 sq.ft. manufacturing facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.?
Dobbies to close 17 stores as it unveils restructuring plan.
Dobbies has launched a restructuring plan, which will see it close 17 unprofitable stores, as it aims to “address historically uneconomical rent costs and ensure a return to sustainable profitability”.
The?garden centre?will close 11 mainline sites and six Little Dobbies stores, all of which are unprofitable, with 465 of its 3,600 employees impacted. The move will leave it with 60 garden centres.
The retailer will also work with landlords to seek temporary rent reductions at a further nine sites.
While the process is ongoing, all shops will continue to operate as normal. It also noted that there would be no impact to suppliers.
The gardening specialist expects the 17 sites to cease trading by the end of the year, subject to the restructuring plan being successfully approved.
The move comes after Dobbies began?planning a financial overhaul of the business?in August, which it warned would lead to rent cuts and shop closures.
The stores set to close are:
Little Dobbies
Iceland makes huge change to 53 supermarket stores ahead of nationwide rollout.
Frozen?supermarket?chain?Iceland?has made a major change to 53 of its UK stores ahead of a major nationwide rollout.?
Iceland has partnered with the food delivery service Deliveroo as part of the latest expansion of its rapid delivery offer and is now offering the service at 53 of its UK stores. Under the plan, the supermarket chain will expand to its 800 Iceland and Food Warehouse stores by the end of October.
According to a report from?The Grocer, more than 3,000 Iceland products will be available to buy through?Deliveroo?which includes Iceland’s full range of essentials, frozen and fresh groceries, as well as products from its branded tie-ups with the likes of TGI Fridays,?Greggs?and Myprotein. Iceland says shoppers will be able to receive their orders within 25 minutes under the new partnership.?
Iceland and Food Warehouses already offer deliveries through Just Eat and Uber Eats and also offer a next day and same day delivery service itself. Amazon Prime customers in Manchester and London can also have Iceland food delivered through its third-party deal with Amazon.
Justin Addison, Iceland Foods international and partnerships director said: "We’re dedicated to making sure our customers can enjoy our innovative, value-driven range of products, no matter where they are. This past year has been a real moment of growth for Iceland and The Food Warehouse, and we’re thrilled to add Deliveroo to our list of partners. More customers across the UK will now be able to easily access their favourite Iceland products from the comfort of their own homes.”
Suzy McClintock, Deliveroo VP of new verticals added: "We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Iceland, bringing thousands of fantastic products to customers across the UK in as little as 25 minutes. As demand for convenient grocery delivery grows, this partnership means even more households can access their Iceland favourites quickly and easily via our app, including thousands of great value products.”
Earlier this summer, Iceland announced it was looking to open a further 250 more Food Warehouse stores as part of a massive expansion. Food Warehouse was formed in 2014 by Iceland Foods and is a larger format retail space that sells bulk-buy items. At the time, Iceland did not reveal the full list of locations it would like to open stores, but The Grocer named Crawley, Brighton, Salisbury and Dundee as some of the places that have been specifically named by the supermarket, along with “suburban areas” of London, Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle.
Iceland also confirmed it has stores scheduled to open in Shrewsbury, Bicester, Selby, Yeovil, Llantrisant and Wakefield in 2025
Gymshark to open 4 new stores in the next year.
Gymshark is set to open three new permanent stores and a retail outlet pop-up in the next 12 months.
The shops will open in Trafford Centre in Manchester, Westfield White City in London, and on The Kalverstraat in Amsterdam, its first store in mainland Europe.
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The gym wear giant?will open the doors to its third store in London, a 9,000 sq ft site at Westfield White City in early 2025, which follows its?debut at Westfield Stratford City this July.?The Amsterdam store will open in spring 2025, as Gymshark said the Netherlands was one of its biggest markets.
The retailer said: “Gymshark is therefore taking the opportunity to bring the IRL [in real life] shopping experience to its community in Amsterdam. The store is over 10,000 sq ft in magnitude and will replicate the core experience that the store in Westfield White City brings”.
The Trafford Centre store will follow next summer and marks the gym wear specialist’s first standalone store in the north.
The 7,500 sq. ft store will be located on Upper Peel Avenue and will house its most sought-after ranges, plus exclusives to Gymshark Trafford Centre.
The gym wear retailer will also be opening its first retail outlet pop-up in what it said could be “as soon as next month” in?Bicester Village.
It said the location “presents the perfect opportunity for Gymshark to bring its brand to the ‘off-price shopping experience’”. The store will open in October and will trade until January 2025.
Gymshark general manager of wholesale and retail?Hannah Mercer?said: “We’ve said for a while now that we are fully committed to an omnichannel strategy, and today’s announcement is a real ‘ramping up’ moment on this pledge.
“In 2022, we had one store open. By the end of this year, we will have three and, by summer next year, we will have seven. We said earlier this year that?We Do Gym?– we aren’t a sports brand or an apparel brand, we are a gym brand.
“All the locations not only have incredible footfall and iconic heritages for shopping but are in cities renowned for communities that are passionate about health and fitness and love the gym.
“So, I couldn’t think of better places for us to really accelerate our strategy and truly show our intent to bring the IRL Gymshark experience to so many more members of our community.”
Just Eat partners with Boots, launching 50 sites across the UK.
Just Eat, the nation’s biggest food delivery platform, is delighted to announce a brand-new partnership with Boots to deliver on-demand beauty and healthcare products.
With 50 Boots stores now live across the UK, this is the first time Just Eat has partnered with a pharmacy-led retailer and the new partnership highlights the platform’s commitment to bringing customers a wide range of everyday essentials, alongside food deliveries.
The initial launch is being rolled out across major cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. Just Eat customers in these areas can now order over 1,000 Boots products for quick and convenient delivery, including:
Just Eat delivers to almost 97% of the UK and there are plans to follow up the first 50 Boots stores with 100 more by spring 2025.
Claire Pointon, managing director Just Eat UK & Ireland, says: “The launch of our new partnership with Boots marks an exciting milestone for Just Eat as we continue to expand our offering beyond food delivery to everyday essentials. By partnering with the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer, we’re continuing our mission to empower convenience for our customers, helping them get whatever they want, whenever and wherever they need it.”
The news follows recent exciting partnership announcements including Card Factory and eyewear retailer Pop Specs, demonstrating the value in on-demand delivery for a variety of customer moments.
Research?conducted by PA Consulting, on behalf of Just Eat earlier this year, found that three in four people who have ordered on-demand groceries in the past believe it will become a part of their daily lives.
The study of 4,000 European customers identified eight key moments which drive grocery and retail orders on the app – one of which included gift giving and care packages for loved ones. This new partnership aims to serve that mission and more.
Paula Bobbett, chief digital officer at Boots, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Just Eat to bring our range of health and beauty products to customers in a fast, flexible, and convenient way, wherever they are. It will be super handy for times when you need something urgently but can’t leave the house, like if you’re feeling unwell or are looking after your kids. Our online business continues to grow and partnerships with platforms like Just Eat enable our customers a way to access our products quickly and easily.”
John Lewis announces new Waterstones partnership.
John Lewis has announced that a new Waterstones bookshop will launch in its flagship store in London’s Oxford Street.
Due to open in time for Christmas, Waterstones at John Lewis will offer a selection of nearly 20,000 books, including non-fiction, fiction and children’s books.
John Lewis?said the new partnership follows rising demand for books in-store and online, which has grown in recent years. It is also in line with its strategy to offer customers an “outstanding in-store experience”.
Katie Papakonstantinou, director of services and hospitality for John Lewis said, “We’re delighted to partner with Waterstones, whose values and customer base are highly aligned with ours. We’re dedicated to offering our customers the best shopping experience possible, and this new bookshop is another way for us to invest in the customer offer, from our products and services to our complimentary hospitality offerings.”
The move also means that Waterstones will once again have a presence in Oxford Street.
Kate Skipper, chief operating officer at?Waterstones,?added: “We are thrilled to be working with John Lewis on this exciting new partnership and delighted to be returning to Oxford Street this autumn. Waterstones at John Lewis Oxford Street will be an extensively ranged bookshop sited within this iconic flagship department store, perfect for browsing and a hub for author signings, with our booksellers on hand to offer expert customer guidance.”
The new bookshop will be part of the extensive makeover currently being undertaken at the Oxford Street store which includes a new beauty hall, a newly opened rooftop bar and restaurant, and other investments across the store.
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