The bathroom specialist acquired competitor Victoria Plum in May for £22.5m and called it an “exciting strategic milestone” for the business.

Victorian Plumbing said it would continue the ongoing cost-cutting programme that was in place following its rival’s collapse into administration last September, with the intention of keeping both companies trading separately.

However, the bathroom specialist confirmed on Thursday (15 August) that it would close down Victoria Plum and had entered a consultation period for effected staff.

A Victorian Plumbing spokesperson told Retail Gazette: “Following the acquisition of AHK Designs Ltd, we are proposing a closure plan for VictoriaPlum.com. As a result we have entered into a consultation period with a number of VictoriaPlum.com colleagues and only when the period completes can we provide an update.

“We are committed to keeping all employees, suppliers and connected parties up to date as we progress with the consultation. This proposal does not impact Victorian Plumbing Ltd.”

Victoria Plum fell into administration almost a year ago and was first bought in a pre-pack deal by AHK Designs, a subsidiary of the firm that owns Beds.co.uk and Cox & Cox.

It was then snapped up by Victorian Plumbing six months later, which at the time expected the business to “broadly break even in the second half of 2024″.

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The retailer opened its first own-brand café in Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton, today (15 August) just three months after it launched its Smith Family Kitchen food-to-go range.

The 26 seat, 495 sq ft café sells coffee, tea, iced drinks as well as hot breakfast choices, fresh pastries and cakes.

WHSmith UK travel managing director Andrew Harrison said: “Whether it’s in a hospital or on their journeys, customers tell us that quality food and drink options are what they prioritise most in the different locations we serve.

“That’s why we have been doubling down on our food ranges and formats to ensure our customers don’t need to compromise on quality or value, as demonstrated today with the launch of Smith’s Kitchen.

“With the opening of our first ever own-brand café coming hot on the heels of our newly launched own-brand food range, this shows the pace of innovation across our business and commitment to delivering quality experiences and products at WHSmith for our customers and partners.”

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The toy specialist’s space has been “designed to create a space where 4 to 14-year-olds can hang out with friends, dress up, be creative, feel inspired, explore and have fun”, located on the store’s second floor.

Offering items including hair accessories, child-friendly cosmetics and nail art, dressing up outfits, and jewellery, Hamleys said the boutique is “a response to Gen Alpha’s curiosity for ways to express themselves and develop their identity through play”.

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Hamleys head of buying Victoria Kay said: “Research shows that children as young as four years old possess a profound sense of self-awareness.

“In fact, unlike generations before them, over 90% value their individuality and authenticity, and feel it’s important to be totally themselves. Toys and products that allow them to explore their identity and bond with others through play are vital for the next generation.

“Young children today are also hugely socially aware. They love to shop together with friends; sharing ideas, creative expression and developing their own evolving sense of style is a meaningful social activity,” she said.

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Darbyshire, who joins CDS Superstores as its new head of property, will be responsible for the rollout of Wilko’s concept stores across the UK and Northern Ireland.

The discount chain, which was rescued out of administration by The Range last September, is set to open its sixth store in Poole on Friday (16 August) following successful openings in Exeter, Luton, Plymouth, Rotherham and St Albans.

Darbyshire, who will also spearhead increasing The Range’s more than 200 store portfolio, has over 30 years of retail property experience and currently serves as Matalan’s director of property, where he has spent the last ten years.

Prior to that, he spent nine years as head of property for Frasers Group’s Sports Direct.

CDS Superstores chief executive Alex Simpkin said: “We are thrilled to welcome Antony to our leadership team. His extensive experience and expertise in property management are exactly what we need as we accelerate our expansion plans and build on our success to date.

“Antony will play a critical role in ensuring that both The Range and Wilko continue to thrive and reach even more communities across the UK.

“We are particularly excited about the opportunities to regrow the Wilko brand through our innovative new concept stores and encourage landlords with suitable spaces to proactively contact us regarding potential occupancy as we ramp up our store launch programme.”

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The retailer is “bringing together the very best of M&S” across clothing, home, beauty, food, its in-store cafés, and third-party brands to create a “unique proposition” for Sparks members.

The Parent Hood club is free to join and offers members the opportunity to save up to £250 each year.

M&S said the club allowed it to “foster a community and acquire and nurture both new and existing family customers”.

It also hopes to increase frequency of shop and drive greater cross-purchasing opportunities amongst customers who don’t currently shop other categories.

By joining M&S’ baby club, members immediately receive 10% off the retailer’s entire range of quality baby grows for 12 months, plus tailored offers across clothing and home, including maternity and nursing bras, bedding and brands such as Mamas & Papas.

In its food halls, members will receive offers across specialist products from Pampers to Piccolo organic baby food.

To set the baby club apart, the high street retailer has invested in differentiation and personalisation.

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M&S said: “From birthing bag essentials, choosing the right bra, postpartum wellbeing, nutrition for parent and baby, weaning recipes, styling, to activities for baby – ‘The Parent Hood’ brings together trusted value, recognition, inspiration & advice, and a sense of community, with access to exclusive offers.”

M&S director of kidswear Alexandra Dimitriu said: “Our customers trust us for the hand-me-down quality of our kids clothing and with our growing style credentials and a presence in so many communities, there is so much opportunity to grow our market share through appealing to new customers and introducing existing customers to more of what we have to offer.

“As a mum, I’m incredibly excited to be launching M&S’ first baby club – the proposition we’ve created by remaining laser-focused on what baby – and parents – need, when they need it, is something I wish I had access to when I was a member of the 2am club!”

Director of loyalty, food marketing and masterbrand Sharry Cramond added: “The M&S baby club is the first of our special interest clubs for Sparks members, and we have big ambitions to make it the very best baby club in the country by bringing together the very best of M&S – from food, to clothing, to our cafes – and be a one stop shop for the UK’s incredible community of parents.”

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88 per cent of GMB members in Skelton voted, with 86 per cent supporting strike action.

This is understood to be the sixth consultative ballot carried out across Asda stores in recent months, GMB said 88% of its members in Skelton voted. A formal strike ballot will now open today (15 August) and close on 9 September.

The union said that any industrial action would take place later in September.

GMB organiser Louise Race said: “The strength of this mandate shows that Skelton workers, like other Asda colleagues around the country, want to see union recognition and equal pay for Asda retail workers.”

An Asda spokesperson said: “In Skelton, the GMB have not raised any specific issues with store management. We value feedback from our colleagues and will continue to work with all our colleagues in Skelton, including the GMB, on any store-specific matters.”

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It comes as GMB is set to take its equal pay claim against Asda to the High Court on 9 September.

The spokesperson said: “At Asda male and female colleagues doing the same jobs in stores are paid the same and this is equally true in our distribution centres. We continue to defend these claims because retail and distribution are very different sectors, with their own distinct skill sets and rates of pay.”

The grocery retailer has been hit with a wave of industrial action over pay and working conditions in recent months. Five stores have faced strikes: Brighton Marina, Brighton Hollingbury, Wisbech, Lowestoft, and Gosport.

It comes as fresh data showed that Asda sales plunged 6% in the 12 weeks to 4 August. The Kantar data showed that the supermarket’s market share has plummeted from 13.7% to 12.6% over the past year.

Asda has been contacted for comment.

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Factories based in the world’s second biggest garments exporter were closed for days following an uprising last week, sparked by the former prime minister’s government clamping down on student protesters, the Financial Times reported. 

Clothes and shoes deliveries to Europe and North American for the winter season have been delayed due to weeks of violence in the country.

Factories have turned to shipping goods by air and working overtime to make up for its backlog extending as far as a month.

Exporters in the country said some major retailers had moved their orders for upcoming seasons to other south-east Asian suppliers, leading to global supply chain disruption.

Mamun Rashid, an adviser to garment manufacturers in Bangladesh, M said: “For the time being, we’re diverting 40% of our orders to Cambodia or Indonesia.”

Many global retailers rely on the country for its garments, including fashion giant H&M and sports goods retailer Decathlon.

Earlier this month, it was reported that H&M, Uniqlo and Zara were facing potential delays in receiving their latest clothing collections due to the current political unrest in the region.

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The move forms part of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) six projects to trial the use of drones in deliveries, Reuters reported.

As it stands, British drone users are held to strict restriction to fly the machines beyond the visual line of sight.

However, as part of the trials revealed by the UK’s aviation regulator, selected projects would be allowed to fly their devices across distances beyond the user’s ability to see them, by implementing advanced technologies used for navigation, control and to detect other aircraft.

CAA director Sophie O’Sullivan said: “These innovative trials mark a significant step forward in integrating drones safely into UK airspace.

“Our goal is to make drone operations beyond visual line of sight a safe and everyday reality.”

The ecommerce giant initially revealed it was relaunching its delivery drones in the UK in October.

Amazon said it would begin deploying the unmanned, airborne vehicles for distributing goods from some of its same-day delivery sites, including one located in the UK.

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Restructuring advisers have revealed the terms for one of the two transactions that came after the collapse of the flooring giant last month, according to The Furnishing Report.

Carpetright was placed into administration in July, with Tapi snapping up its intellectual property, two warehouses and more than a fifth of stores. However, more than 1,000 jobs were lost.

Tapi previously said that saving the entire business was “unviable” as Carpetright had been materially loss making for a number of years and had racked up “significant debt”.

It added it had been mindful of how the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would view a larger deal.

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The supermarket, which first teamed up with the delivery platform in 2020, has the service running in around 390 of its big stores and now, 500 of its convenience stores.

The expansion means that more consumers will now be able to order from a range of 2,500 fresh, frozen and ambient items.

Morrisons convenience, online and wholesale director Joseph Sutton said: “Our partnership with Deliveroo has gone from strength to strength since we first started working together in 2020.

“Customers tell us how important rapid delivery services are to them and so we’re delighted to be extending the Deliveroo service and making it available from 500 of our Morrisons Daily stores.”

Deliveroo vice president of grocery and retailer Suzy McClintock added: “We are thrilled to continue bringing more of Morrisons’ fantastic range straight to our customers’ homes, including price matching to in store prices on some of the most popular items, making everyday life a little easier.”

The supermarket has around 1,600 Morrisons Daily convenience stores nationwide, of which circa 600 are franchise stores.

It is understood that the grocery chain is looking to expand its convenience footprint to 2,000 shops across the UK in a bid to take on rivals Aldi and Lidl as it pushes ahead with its convenience growth plans.

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