All articles by Beth Brooks – Page 86
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Trade credit insurance blitz hits wholesalers
Smaller wholesalers are being forced to pay suppliers upfront for deliveries because their trade credit insurance limits have been reduced or removed. Sources within the sector claimed wholesalers were coming under closer scrutiny from trade...
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Carlsberg to close Leeds brewery
Carlsberg UK is to close its Leeds brewery in 2011, with the loss of 170 jobs.
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Cavendish takes hold of tobacco control debate
Dr Will Cavendish, director of health and wellbeing at the Department of Health, is set to take over the Government's tobacco policy from Monday. Cavendish - whose remit already includes obesity and alcohol, nutrition and food labelling -...
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Bank charges threaten future of wholesalers
Wholesalers have warned that increased bank charges could send them under.Banks have pushed up charges to levels they are unable to cope with financially, wholesalers report.One wholesaler said he was facing total bank charge...
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Home is where the art is
Home Bargains operations director Joe Morris talks to Beth Phillips about the chain's ambitious expansion plans
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Credit crunch prompts 99p Stores sales boom
The credit crunch has helped 99p Stores record half-year like-for-like sales growth of 7.5%.Shoppers had turned to the value retailer in the past six months as the economic downturn worsened, said 99p Stores commercial director Hussein...
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Indie co-ops’ concern over Somerfield sell-off ruling
Independent co-op societies fear they could face direct competition from the multiples after the OFT ruled The Co-operative Group must sell 126 stores as part of its £1.57bn acquisition of Somerfield. Smaller societies say they could find themselves...
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Booths defies crunch with profit rising 73%
Upmarket northern supermarket chain Booths has defied the economic gloom by notching up a 3.8% increase in full-year like-for-like sales – ahead of its much larger rivals Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. Pre-tax profit jumped 73% to £6.9m on sales up...
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Supermarkets' petrol price war intensifies
The battle at the pumps between the big four has intensified with Asda and Sainsbury's cutting the price of fuel for the third time in a week.
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OFT: 'Free wholesalers from newspaper code of practice'
Rules governing newstrade wholesalers could be relaxed following the findings of three Office of Fair Trading reports released today. Releasing its long-awaited reports into the 1994 National Newspapers Code of Practice and the vertical agreements between wholesalers and publishers, the OFT said wholesalers should be "released from the undertakings ...
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OFT greenlights Co-op’s Somerfield deal but 126 stores must be sold
The Co-operative Group's £1.57bn acquisition of Somerfield has been rubber-stamped by the Office of Fair Trading.
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Indies call for Co-op’s expulsion from ACS
There were calls this week for the Co-operative Group’s membership of the Association of Convenience Stores to be revoked following its £1.57bn acquisition of Somerfield in July. Some independents claimed the society’s size post-merger as the UK’s...
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Expanding TJ Morris makes its Scots debut
TJ Morris, the company behind discount chain Home Bargains, is set to open its first store in Scotland later this year as part of ambitious plans to double the size of its business. The store, in Rutherglen, near Glasgow, would be the independent...
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Williams’ wholesale Landmark
Landmark’s head honcho explains to Beth Phillips how he is rising to the challenges posed by today’s wholesale scene
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‘Last chance to create a fifth player,’ says Co-op's Hurrell
How is Tim Hurrell, head of The Co-operative Group’s food business, going to propel it into the premiership of grocery retailing, asks Beth Phillips
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Single-outlet indie sells ‘cheapest fuel in Britain’
An independent store has launched a price war with the multiples by selling what it claims is the cheapest fuel in Britain. Stans Superstore, which operates from a single outlet in the Shropshire village of St Martin, near Oswestry, has slashed 4p...
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Co-op’s food MD vows to sharpen act on low prices
The Co-operative Group has revealed plans to improve its value offering as it unveiled record interim results this week. New food retail MD Tim Hurrell said the society planned to relaunch its Everyday value range next year, revamping its packaging...
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Landmark outperforms market despite crunch
Landmark Wholesale has defied the economic downturn with sales up 7% in the year to the end of August. Despite consumers tightening their belts, the buying group had outperformed in most categories, managing director Martin Williams told The Grocer in an exclusive interview.
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New mystery shop survey rates convenience stores
The Grocer has launched a mystery shopping survey for the convenience sector. As part of The Grocer’s new-look Independent View section, the mystery shop benchmarks independents against symbol groups, co-ops, discounters and the multiples’...
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Under-the-counter plan ‘threatens livelihoods’
Forcing cigarettes under the counter could fuel the illicit trade and threaten the livelihood of retailers. That’s the warning from trade associations and tobacco manufacturers in their responses to the Department of Health’s consultation on the...