Next week, international beauty store Sephora will return to the UK for the first time in 17 years. The store will open at Westfield White City in London on the 8th of March. It will feature over 6,000sq. ft. of beauty products from more than 100 brands, along with in-store treatments. General manager at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Katie Wyle said: “The launch of their store marks the growth of our beauty offer and will be a landmark moment for beauty fans where they can discover Sephora’s compelling brand mix combined with a high-energy, digitally enhanced in-store experience.”
Aldi is looking to vacant office buildings and new residential locations as part of its latest expansion plans. The supermarket, which has 990 branches across the UK, has announced its intention to nearly double its 60-strong London store estate. It is looking for locations matching its 20,000sq. ft. standard store format.
Iceland is permanently closing 6 of its UK stores. Two stores, one in Mill Lane, Bromsgrove and the other in Basingstoke’s Chineham Shopping Centre, closed last week, with other stores in South England and Wales set to close by the end of March. Iceland currently operates more than 500 stores and 153 Food Warehouse branches.
Barnardo’s has been given approval to open in a retail park unit that has been vacant for nearly 10 years. The site, on High Point Retail Park in Hartlepool, previously held restrictions on the sale of some types of items. Council planning officers have agreed that lifting the restrictions would “be unlikely to have an adverse impact on the vitality and viability of the town centre”. Barnardo’s already operates two retail park units, one in Coventry and another in Bradford.