The C&A board told 50 of its suppliers that the UK might feature in its long-term expansion plans. However, there has so far been no sign of C&A returning to the UK high street.
Tesco extended its value clothing brands Cherokee and Florence & Fred to include soft furnishings, in an effort to double sales in that category. A year on, there is mounting speculation that Tesco, which licenses the Cherokee brand, may get the opportunity to buy the label from the US brand management company of the same name.
January 2004 produced the highest year-on-year rise in footfall for three years, according to shopper traffic analysts SPSL, with retailers benefiting from consumers scrambling to buy the latest electrical gadgets. This January, gadgetry was high on shoppers' lists, but traffic was down, with SPSL calling it the worst January for two years.
This time last year, Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy called for the Government to lower taxes for UK businesses, complaining that his company paid out more than 50 per cent of its profits in tax. Following another bumper trading statement from Tesco on January 18 2005, the retailer is under pressure from shoppers calling for Government intervention to stop the grocer getting too big. A Retail Week poll, released today found that 48 per cent of Consumers thought that Tesco is getting too big and powerful.
No comments yet