Tag: shops

Welcome to a new retail world

The entire retail landscape has, without doubt, been irrevocably changed. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced even the most IT illiterate into using their phone more than ever. During the height of the lockdown, I was definitely a regular customer at Screwfix. If you need anything for yoru DIY, …

Virgin Media to close UK stores

Liberty Global will not be reopening any of their 53 Virgin Media high street stores, even after the lockdown eases further. This was, in all honesty, coming down the road for a bit after other stores were closed, but now – with most orders coming from the phone …

Apple closes all stores outside mainland China

A full closure of all Apple shops and stores outside of China will now kick in for two weeks. This is happening immediately, and they not reopen until March 27th. It comes as the spread of coronavirus continues, with countries closing borders, stopping flights and going onto lock-down …

EE open up their first Showcase store

EE are showing off a new type of store in Tottenham Court Road. It’s one of their new “Showcase” stores and basically lets you play with and enjoy the range of tech and services that the network provides. You get to experience experiential zones and there’s the chance …

More EE stores comin’ at ya

Hold tight, because you’re about to see a whole lot more of EE on your high street and even in your local supermarket. EE are expanding their retail footprint and have added a partnership with Sainsbury’s too. This will see 100 new EE stores and 400 additional jobs …

Phones 4u – The final toll

A list of stores being closed is now available. Staff will already be aware, but if you’re hoping that a local store is to re-open as a Vodafone, EE or Carphone Warehouse, check this list. All of these ex-Phones 4u stores will now be closed until they perhaps …

Phones 4u confirms 1,700 job losses. More to come.

Sadly, as predicted, 1,700 jobs are to go from Phones 4u stores. The remaining 362 outlets will close and 628 staff at the HQ have already been made redundant. Carphone Warehouse, EE and Vodafone have carved up the remaining stores and retained their staff. The administrators confirmed that …

The times, they are a-changing

This morning Phones 4u stores up and down the country have closed their doors. They have effectively been blocked from trading by their suppliers. If you operated lots of ice-cream vans but all the suppliers of ice-cream refused to supply you, you’d be pretty much out of business. …

I have a problem…it is my love for CEX

We’re often told that the first steps in dealing with a problem is to accept that you have one. I have a problem.  There, it is out in the open. The problem with my problem, if you’ll excuse the repetition, is that I don’t really see it as a …

The customer is always right and they’re changing behaviour rapidly

Something is happening, and it’s happening quickly. It hit me this afternoon when I was buying apples in Morrisons. The supermarket chain is massive. They bought Safeway (anyone remember them? I used to work there y’know) but in the run-up to Christmas their like-for-like sales dipped 2.5%. “Hey …