Retail news round-up on October 28, 2015: N Brown loses womenswear director, Carraig Donn enters UK and Walgreens buys rival Rite Aid in cash deal.
Womenswear director Linda Quinn latest to leave N Brown
N Brown has been once again hit by a string of departures, with the latest to leave being its long-serving womenswear director Linda Quinn.
Quinn is understood to have already resigned from the operating board over the summer, the Daily Mail reported.
She was instrumental in transforming the business from a catalogue retailer to an online giant.
A spokesman for N Brown said her departure was ‘amicable’.
The fashion retailer is likely to announce her replacement ‘in the coming weeks’.
Walgreens confirms Rite Aid takeover for $17.2bn
Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to snap up its smaller rival, Rite Aid, in a cash deal worth about $9.41bn (£6.13bn).
The US drugstore chain said it will pay $9 per share for the third-largest pharmacy chain, headquartered in Pennsylvania’s Camp Hill, US. The deal is worth $17.2bn when debt is included, the companies said.
Walgreens vice-chairman and chief executive Stefano Pessina said that the announcement is another step in the company’s global development.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of next year.
Irish retailer Carraig Donn forays into UK with two stores
Irish fashion retailer Carraig Donn has entered the UK market, opening its first outlet in Newcastle.
The company will also launch its second store in Sheffield in November.
Carraig Donn’s €1m investment in the UK strategy is to create 30 new jobs across the two new stores in addition to key management roles at the company’s headquarters in Westport, Co Mayo.
Managing director Patrick Hughes said “We view this expansion as a learning curve in a new market, and it is our ambition to open further UK stores in the coming years.”
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