Retail 

John Lewis has partnered with rental experts Fat Llama to offer furniture rental from stores in Greater London. Customers will be able to rent a select range of John Lewis products for 3, 6 or 12 months – the longer rental commitment, the cheaper the rate. Customers will have the option to buy the furniture at any time during the rental period. Director of Home at John Lewis, Jonathan Marsh said: “We want to make our products and services as compelling and meaningful to the next generation of customers and how they want to live.”

Luxury brand Watches of Switzerland has posted an increase in profits despite a huge decrease in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. Profits grew by 6.2% during the 52 weeks to April 26^th.

Supermarket giant Morrisons has announced it will be trialling replacing reusable plastic bags with paper across 8 stores across Yorkshire, Cambridge, Bristol, Abergavenny and Paisley. The new paper bags are just as strong as its plastic ones and can hold up to 16kg or 13 bottles of wine without breaking. If customers welcome the change, the bags will be rolled out across its entire portfolio. Waitrose is also considering a similar move in a bid to remove up to 40 million plastic bags from circulation per year. Morrisons' chief executive, David Potts, said: "We believe customers are ready to stop using plastic carrier bags as they want to reduce the amount of plastic they have in their lives and keep it out of the environment. We know that many are taking reusable bags back to store and, if they forget these, we have paper bags that are tough, convenient and a reusable alternative."

In another step forward for the environment, Selfridges has announced plans to start a clothing rental service as part of a wider sustainability drive across the business including selling second-hand clothing, recycling and repair services.

New research reveals that 10k jobs have been taken out of the retail sector since the start of 2020 according to research by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). Debenhams, Mothercare and Asda are among several stalwart brands that have announced job losses. Since the research was released, M&S announced 7,000 further job losses as they work to significantly reduce costs as a result of the malaise caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Grocery sales have reduced to levels seen pre-lockdown, according to market research firm Kantar. As consumer habits start to return to normal and the focus moves to the hospitality sector with the introduction of the ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme run by the government, sales slowed across the major supermarkets and convenience stores.

Leisure

The government’s ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme which allows restaurants to offer a 50% discount on dine-in food up to £10 per person on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday saw over 35 million meals sold in the first two weeks. Data shows that 48k claims were made by businesses, with a total value of £180m. Data also shows that the scheme has not cannibalised business from the latter end of the week, with no reduction in bookings from Thursday – Sunday.

Italian restaurant chain Wildwood’s operator Tasty has cut its staff by over 30% this week, in yet another round of redundancies to hit the retail and leisure sectors. The group has said it hopes to have 86% of restaurants trading by the end of August, with some opened earlier to make the most of the ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme. Sites which remain unopened may be closed permanently and they have said that they won’t rule out closing opened sites should sales dip.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey is continuing with ambitious plans to open 50 restaurant sites across the UK, despite the current recession and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The planned openings will create around 2,000 jobs and regional locations will be prioritised over London. In a statement Gordon Ramsey said: “We have big dreams, big plans and a global strategy so ambitious it takes my breath away. We have had to acknowledge and review the impact of the horrendous Coronavirus pandemic… We continue to be optimistic and ambitious, knowing it is more important than ever to invest in our industry to support suppliers and create jobs.”

Casual dining chain Pizza Express has announced that it will close 73 of its 454 sites under a CVA proposal which will see 1,100 jobs at risk after challenging trading which was only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company hopes that a CVA will ‘reset’ the chain and provide a leaner estate.

Property

Plans have been submitted by Setha Group for a £30m redevelopment of Nasons department store in Canterbury into a mixed-use scheme. The currently vacant site will include retail, leisure, office space and housing and will be called Biggleston Yard. Manual Alsoni, CEO of Setha Group said in a statement: “We are delighted to have submitted a planning application for the redevelopment of this important site in the centre of Canterbury,” said Manuel Alsoni, Chief Executive Officer, Setha Group.