Graham Soult

Graham Soult

Retail ConsultantGateshead

Graham Soult is the owner and founder of CannyInsights.com (http://www.cannyinsights.com/), a business that helps retailers to better understand and communicate with their customers, providing copywriting, customer surveys, market insight, proofreading, social media support, and store visits and feedback.

Graham's must-read blog, Soult’s Retail View (http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/), showcases this work, giving a unique and wide-ranging perspective on the UK retail industry.

129 comments By Graham Soult

  • I've written a more detailed piece about the fate of the eight North East stores at http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2017/08/28/one-year-on-from-the-closure-of-bhs-what-has-become-of-the-eight-north-east-stores/. Checking against the closure list, I'm pretty certain the national total should be 164 rather than 160, though!

    Commented on: 2017-08-31T11:58:34.950

    Most former BHS stores are still empty

    BHS: A year after closure, most stores still lie empty

  • There's an element of back to the future here, of course, given that Clintons under its previous ownership had an estate of Pure Party stores (http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/134515/Clinton-s-set-to-party)!

    Commented on: 2017-03-17T14:16:06.450

    Party delights index

    Clintons pops the cork on new fascia Party Delights

  • It's hard to disagree with the landlords.

    It's true that there are some failed retailers - such as The Works and Whittard of Chelsea - that have been successfully revived, but this usually only happens where there is new ownership and new ideas post-administration, reinventing the brand and offer to address the shortcomings that brought it down in the first place.

    In contrast, the approach here - where a business keeps making itself smaller by shedding loss-making stores, but with no notable change to how it's run or who's running it - is usually doomed to failure. The brand gets damaged, what economies of scale there were are lost, and the business ends up disappearing with a whimper, leaving disgruntled staff and landlords in its wake.

    I do actually quite like Blue Inc - its own-label men's clothing is much better quality than you might expect, yet the brand messaging seems to be all about price, price, price. If it's to have one last chance of avoiding doing an Ethel Austin, maybe it's time for Blue Inc to talk less about cheapness and more about value?

    Commented on: 2017-03-13T14:07:21.693

    Blue Inc in Basingstoke

    Blue Inc landlords brand CVA 'stay of execution'

  • This is positive progress, after Poundland under its previous ownership was somewhat derailed by the 99p Stores acquisition.

    Moving Poundland away from being a single-price retailer is risky, and instore execution and messaging probably still needs to be clearer to avoid customer confusion - especially where there are old-style fascias that still say 'Yes, everything's £1!'

    However, Steinhoff's move to bring in Pep&Co clothing shop-in-shops seems like a great fit - it avoids confusing the Poundland offer, but makes better use of space in the largest Poundland branches (some of them ex-Woolworths/TJ Hughes), potentially drives footfall, and allows Pep&Co to expand much faster than would otherwise be the case, including in large-town or city-centre locations that might not be viable for a standalone branch.

    With Steinhoff also tackling the issue of overlapping stores - where there are established Poundland branches and converted 99p Stores in ridiculous proximity - the business seems to be getting its mojo back, which can only be a good thing for customers and the high street.

    Commented on: 2017-02-28T08:44:44.950

    Poundland's like-for-like sales rose in the first quarter

    Poundland delivers quarterly like-for-like sales rise

  • Now I'm making my own mistakes - Carlisle, Reading and *Colchester* obviously :)

    Commented on: 2017-02-24T08:49:13.530

    BHS

    Aldi and TK Maxx snap up former BHS units

  • It's worth clarifying a mistake from the original PW source - Primark agreed to take the Carlisle, Reading and Carlisle sites well *before* BHS's collapse, which makes it a slightly different situation. They were sites disposed of by BHS in an attempt to shore up the then-struggling chain, rather than ones freed up by its demise!

    Commented on: 2017-02-24T08:48:02.217

    BHS

    Aldi and TK Maxx snap up former BHS units

  • Newcastle is still empty. Durham also empty, but cunningly concealed for now by Santa's grotto! https://twitter.com/soult/status/803908774448812032. Overall the North East is doing pretty well, though, with Hartlepool occupied and Metrocentre, Sunderland and Middlesbrough all with new occupants confirmed and on the way.

    Commented on: 2016-11-30T14:20:31.127

    BHS' Oxford Street flagship closed its doors in August

    BHS: Primark, Sports Direct, Next take on vacant stores

  • Intu Metrocentre is definitely Gateshead. Intu Eldon Square is Newcastle!

    Commented on: 2016-10-12T11:48:43.470

    Next jpg

    Next takes over old BHS site at Intu in Newcastle

  • Thanks for the mention!

  • I'm really looking forward to this opening. Dyson is an incredible brand and an amazing technological innovator - like Apple has indeed been in the past - and this store should surprise those who still think the company is all about vacuum cleaners.

  • While I agree that the pool of potential occupants for BHS stores is quite small (as many of the retailers that grew off the back of Woolworths' demise are now already present in the towns where BHS trades), the list here is a bit strange! Pep&Co, for instance, targets sites much smaller than the average BHS (c.6,000 sq ft or less), while Fenwick has only ever expanded at a glacial pace. I'd add Next, H&M and TK Maxx as other potentials, though perhaps more in terms of relocations rather than new stores, given how ubiquitous they all tend to be in those larger towns where BHS is usually found.

  • The font used on this new fascia is subtly different, too! A little blander than the standard Poundland logotype, arguably.

  • Why not just keep the Family Bargains fascia? If your brand is premised on a single-price format, I think it's easy to dilute that - and confuse consumers - if you start adding words like 'Plus' or 'Extra' over the door. Customers are right to take one look and ask "Is this a pound store or not?"

    Failing that, Shop Direct has a spare 'Woolworths' brand that they'd probably agree to flog for a few million!

  • Standalone menswear stores are a sensible way forward for New Look, and should help make the men's range more visible and accessible.

    I like the quality and value of New Look menswear, but typically find that a) it can be hard to work out, before entering a store, whether a particular New Look branch sells menswear or not, and b) if they do, like in Newcastle's Eldon Square, the menswear is such a trail to get to (through the womenswear, up the escalator, then back on yourself to the front of the first floor) I'll most likely not bother and go somewhere else instead.

    Commented on: 2015-11-11T11:22:14.690

    New Look is planning up to 20 more of its menswear stores

    New Look plans up to 20 more standalone menswear stores

  • It's pleasing to see Newcastle's Fenwick in this list, though it's definitely a store of two halves, with spectacular parts (the new Food Hall) alongside areas that have seen better days (those Co-opesque ceilings in the furniture department).

  • Like a lot of LDC data, I'm not sure how useful this list is without some context, as it doesn't distinguish between actual closures (such as the Arcadia fascias, I would expect) and stores that have merely been rebranded.

    For example, the Discount UK fascia has merely been replaced with Bargain Buys, and I assume that many of the Londis 'closures' are the result of stores switching to other symbol groups rather than closing entirely.

    Similarly, it's worth clarifying that the Cooplands listed is presumably the Doncaster-based chain (which collapsed and was rescued, following the closure of 39 shops), rather than its entirely separate Scarborough-based namesake, which operates further north and is doing just fine.

    Top rule of data analysis - never take it at face value without interrogating it first!

  • I think these labels can be important. If you see a Little Waitrose, you go in knowing what to expect, and recognising that the store will not have the full range. In contrast, I think it's a mistake for the ex-Netto stores that Morrisons acquired, such as the one in Tamworth, to be simply labelled as 'Morrisons' - if you turned up expecting to find the full 'Market Street' experience you'd be sorely disappointed. Making sure, through the choice of fascia, that customers know what they're going to get has to be a positive thing.

    Commented on: 2015-10-20T11:05:05.350

    The exterior of the new-look 'micro' Sainsbury's Local store in Holborn.

    Does Sainsbury's new 'micro' format need a new name?

  • Until now, I've always approached a visit to New Street Station with a sense of dread.

    The platforms were cramped and dark, and the walk from the station out to New Street itself passed through a tired, discount-focused retail offer (the old Pallasades shopping centre) that had none of the style you'd expect when arriving in a major European city.

    To transform both the station and shopping centre so radically, and attract the retail and leisure names that it has, is a remarkable achievement. For once, arriving at BHM will be something to get excited about rather than dread!

  • The exit of Cargo from the high street - as reported by Retail Week yesterday - may well free up some more suitable-sized units for Pep&Co to take advantage of. For example, in Tamworth (my old home town) the Cargo is 3,361 sq ft - previously it was HMV and before that WHSmith. One retailer's retrenchment is another's opportunity.

  • This new logo is quite appealing and friendly, and adding the year of foundation - if a bit clichéd (everyone's doing it lately - House of Fraser, M&S, Beales...) - is a handy way of reminding shoppers of Morrisons' impressive heritage.

    It's only any use, of course, if it's accompanied by more appealing store interiors, ranges and pricing. And Asda HQ down the road might be wondering what Morrisons is doing nicking the random yellow bits from *its* new logo.