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UniChem's shareholders have approved its merger with Alliance Sante of Italy to create a £5bn business called Alliance UniChem that will be a leading player in the European wholesale and retail pharmaceuticals business. 30-Dec-1997 B&Q is planning to open six new warehouse stores in 1998, including outlets in Birmingham, Stockport and Warrington, creating 1,500 jobs. 29-Dec-1997 Jacques Vert, the womenswear retailer, has sold its Grace Collection subsidiary back to its founder for £1.65m. 24-Dec-1997 Virgin Group is increasing its stake in Victory Corporation, the holding company for Virgin-branded cosmetics and clothing, from 15.6% to 49.3% at a cost of £14.5m. 19-Dec-1997 Country Casuals, the womenswear retailer, has announced that talks are taking place with a potential buyer, thought to be Austin Reed. 19-Dec-1997 Asda is planning to build its George clothing operation into a £1bn business over the next four years, but has rejected rumours that it is interested in bidding for Safeway, the rival supermarkets chain. 19-Dec-1997 Coats Viyella is to spin off its Viyella textile operations, its home furnishings business, and its Viyella and Jaeger shops next year, leaving an industrial threads, zips and engineering business which will be called Coats. 18-Dec-1997 Carpetright is planning to open a further 14 carpet stores in the second half of its financial year as part of an expansion that will result in a national chain of 300 stores. 18-Dec-1997 TJ Hughes is to open discount stores in Burnley, Shrewsbury and Blackburn, and extend its Liverpool store over the next two years. 17-Dec-1997 Monsoon, the fashion retailer, is planning a flotation that will value it at about £350m, in order to allow the trustees to realise some of their investment. 17-Dec-1997 MFI Furniture is reorganising its nationwide delivery network with the creation of 12 national home delivery centres, while it is also planning to focus on its core kitchen and bedroom products and cut out less profitable lines. 16-Dec-1997 Littlewoods is forming a joint venture with Burton to enable it to offer high street brands in its catalogues and to give Burton greater access to home shopping. 13-Dec-1997 The Co-operative Wholesale Society has announced restructuring plans that will involve the retreat from uncompetitive superstores, the rationalisation of its supply chain, and further moves into financial services. 12-Dec-1997 Courts, the furniture retailer, is planning to open eight new superstores during this financial year, followed by a further ten next year, and it is also adding more electrical departments to its stores. 06-Dec-1997 Betterware, the door-to-door retailer, has been approached by its managing director regarding a possible buy-out. 06-Dec-1997 Marks & Spencer is withdrawing from its retailing partnership with Blue Square in Israel following two years of losses, but it will continue to buy products from Israel. 05-Dec-1997 ScS Upholstery, the furniture company, is planning a flotation in order to fund the opening of up to 20 outlets in the Midlands, which will be followed by nationwide expansion. 01-Dec-1997 Liberty, the luxury department store in London, is planning a £43m redevelopment to introduce a rooftop restaurant, a food hall, and other new services, but the plan is being criticised by dissident shareholders. 01-Dec-1997 Marks & Spencer has awarded a £80m contract to ICL for the installation of 11,000 tills at its stores, in order to improve the retailer's data management. 29-Nov-1997 Sports Division, the sports retailer, is planning a flotation next spring that will value it at around £350m. 29-Nov-1997 Thorn, the Radio Rentals and Crazy George chain, is to undergo a strategic review in order to boost its share price, and the conclusions will be announced in May. 26-Nov-1997 EMI Group has expressed interest in acquiring the Boosey & Hawkes classical music publishing business and Waterstones, the UK bookseller. 26-Nov-1997 House of Fraser is to turn its Barkers department store in London into its flagship at a cost of £5.5m. 26-Nov-1997 Tesco is running feasibility studies on the opening of hypermarkets in South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan. 25-Nov-1997 Stylo is to convert 75 Hush Puppies shoe stores to other brands such as Barratts and Saxone, and only about 25 Hush Puppies stores will remain. 25-Nov-1997 Marchpole Holdings, the UK licence holder for Yves Saint Laurent products, is planning to raise £39m in a flotation, some of which will be used to fund international expansion. 20-Nov-1997 Safeway is to offer share options to all permanent employees under a new incentive scheme that is aimed at improving customer care in its supermarkets. 19-Nov-1997 The government has blocked Littlewoods' plan to acquire the Freemans home-shopping business for £367m, saying it would have been anti-competitive. 19-Nov-1997 Safeway is to create 2,000 jobs in Northern Ireland in an 18-month expansion programme and is actively looking for sites in the Republic. 17-Nov-1997 Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers is to invest £20m in the expansion of its One Stop shops chain over the next two years. 15-Nov-1997 Thorn has sold Thorn Retail (Fona), its Danish consumer electronics and music retailing business, to a management team for £76m, and will use the proceeds to reduce debt. 14-Nov-1997 The Smart loyalty card scheme is to start offering points to consumers who visit the web sites of member companies, including RAC, John Menzies, Victoria Wine, Vision Express, UCI Cinemas, Commercial Union and Shell. 13-Nov-1997 Teleshop, the home delivery grocery service, is to float on Ofex in order to raise £860,000 to fund expansion from Essex and Cheshire into the West Midlands. 12-Nov-1997 Tesco is preparing plans to build three large shopping complexes in central Europe, two in Prague and one in Budapest, and may look for partners to share the estimated £700m development costs. 11-Nov-1997 Safeway is to use the internet to allow suppliers to get information on stock levels, sales performance and demand forecasts, helping the company to improve the availability of products at its supermarkets. 10-Nov-1997 Boots is considering the introduction of healthcare specialists into its stores to offer advice to customers on areas such as teeth, skin, hair and aromatherapy. 07-Nov-1997 Etam, the womenswear retailer, has said it is considering a number of takeover approaches it has received, but emphasised that any deal would have to enhance the Etam brand. 07-Nov-1997 Powerhouse is planning to expand its chain of 36 electrical superstores, while closing some of its 83 high-street shops. 06-Nov-1997 Betterware, the home shopping group, is to invest about £5m in the expansion of international joint ventures with Avon Products, moving into five eastern European countries and three Asian countries including Japan. 05-Nov-1997 Marks & Spencer is planning a £2bn expansion programme that will increase its selling space by a third across the UK, Europe and the Far East, and create 5,000 jobs over the next three years. 05-Nov-1997 Liberty, the London department store, has put itself up for sale in order to fend off attempts by two large shareholders to replace the chairman. 04-Nov-1997 Virgin Megastores has delayed plans to launch an internet record store until the new year, due to higher-than-expected set-up costs and the uncertainty over WH Smith's controlling stake in the company. 04-Nov-1997 WH Smith is planning to sell The Wall, its US music retailing business, to Camelot Music which is currently in Chapter 11 insolvency protection, for £28m. 03-Nov-1997 Boots has warned that the expansion plans of pharmacy chains could be threatened by a shortage of pharmacists qualifying in the year 2000, caused by the Europe-wide extension of pharmacy degree courses from three to four years. 03-Nov-1997 Sears is considering the cancellation of its £344m computing and accounting outsourcing contract with Andersen Consulting. 31-Oct-1997 Burton is planning to sell 150 of its 1,500 high street stores, including Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins outlets. 31-Oct-1997 J Sainsbury is to trial internet shopping from its Watford store next month, and has also announced that one third of its stores will open all night in the run-up to Christmas. 30-Oct-1997 Wace Screen has won a £5m a year contract to supply all point-of-sale materials to Asda. 30-Oct-1997 Body Shop International is changing the format of its stores, and will include semi-private areas offering beauty and health treatments. 30-Oct-1997 Liberty, the Regent Street retailer, could be facing a major change to the composition of its board, as the Liberty family, who hold a 44% stake, have called an extraordinary general meeting. 25-Oct-1997 Pringle, the woollen jumper maker, is to cut 290 jobs at three factories in Scotland following a fall in export demand. 23-Oct-1997 Grampian Holdings is planning to open a further 25 Edinburgh Woollen Mills stores this year, bringing the total to 248. 23-Oct-1997 Watson & Philip has signed a franchise agreement with Allied Domecq's Dunkin Donuts operation that will result in the opening of cafe areas in its Alldays stores in the south of England. 23-Oct-1997 Owen & Robinson is to change its name to Cadoro in order to reflect a move into the retailing of branded clothes following its recent acquisition of Capolito Roma. 21-Oct-1997 WH Smith has announced restructuring plans, which will involve the demerger of the Waterstone's book chain, the sale of its 75% stake in the Our Price music chain, and the sale of its US music chain The Wall, in order to focus on its WH Smith chain, its wholesaling business and its travel business. 17-Oct-1997 Etam, the fashion retailer, has received possible bid approaches and says it wants to link up with another retailer in order to speed up its recovery. 16-Oct-1997 Kingfisher has ended talks over the £225m acquisition of But, the French retailer, apparently due to concern over the prospects for the French economy and a reluctance to move into furniture retailing. 14-Oct-1997 Burton Group is to be renamed Arcadia Group next spring after the demerger of its Debenhams department stores, but the Burtons brand will still be used for its high street stores. 13-Oct-1997 Dawn Til Dusk is raising £1.65m in a rights issue to finance the acquisition and development of further stores and supermarkets over the next two years. 11-Oct-1997 Storehouse is to launch a combined credit card and loyalty card to its stores in conjunction with GE Capital. 09-Oct-1997 JJB Sports is planning to open 50 stores a year over the next 10 years, ending up with a chain of about 500 high street stores and 200 out-of-town stores. 08-Oct-1997 Thorntons is to accelerate its store opening programme, aiming to have 507 shops by 2001, and will create 820 jobs. 08-Oct-1997 Marks & Spencer is to develop a chain of shops in Poland in partnership with MSF Polska, with the first opening later this year. 08-Oct-1997 Owen & Robinson is setting up two men's branded fashion stores in Manchester and Glasgow, trading under the Capolito Roma name, with a £2m investment. 07-Oct-1997 Next is opening its first Russian store in a Moscow shopping centre, alongside a Mothercare store, and it will be operated by the Mannai Retailing Group franchise. 06-Oct-1997 Dillons and Hammicks are joining forces to launch an internet bookstore called The Book Place with 1.4m titles. 04-Oct-1997 Co-operative Retail Services is trying to change its voting structure to make it more difficult for it to be taken over by a corporate raider, following the recent attack on Co-operative Wholesale Society, its sister organisation. 02-Oct-1997 WH Smith has rejected a surprise takeover bid by Tim Waterstone, the bookseller who sold the Waterstone's chain to WH Smith eight years ago. 02-Oct-1997 Country Gardens, the garden centres group, is to raise £10m in a rights issue to fund the development of new outlets and acquisitions, mainly in the south-east. 02-Oct-1997 Barnes & Noble of the US is considering plans to move into the UK book retailing market. 02-Oct-1997 The Office of Fair Trading is stopping its unofficial investigation into allegations that Dixons has forced property developers to deny out-of-town retail space to smaller electrical retailers. 01-Oct-1997 Dixons is to launch a mail-order catalogue aimed at business users that will offer 9,500 products available from its PC World stores. 29-Sep-1997 Flying Flowers is expanding its mail-order flower delivery service into the US by investing $500,000 in a new venture called Flower Farm Direct. 29-Sep-1997 Asda and Safeway have called off secret merger discussions due to fears of government opposition, a move which would have created a food retailing group similar in size to Tesco. 29-Sep-1997 Clinton Cards is planning to open 20 new greetings cards and gift shops and close 13 by the end of this year. 27-Sep-1997 Sears is to withdraw from shore retailing by closing or selling its 775 shoe shops and department store concessions, including 150 Shoe Express outlets. 26-Sep-1997 Electronics Boutique is to open a further 15 computer games shops by the end of this year, while its US parent is also planning to expand into other European countries. 25-Sep-1997 Jessop is planning to expand its chain of photographic shops from 74 to over 100 by next year, and will use the cash raised from next year's flotation to acquire rival chains. 22-Sep-1997 Tesco is considering an extension to its home shopping service to cover the whole area within the M25, enabling Londoners to order via phone, fax or internet. 22-Sep-1997 Iceland is extending its home shopping service to Edinburgh and the north east, enabling people to order via phone or fax. 22-Sep-1997 Sears is expected to shortly announce plans to break up its shoe retailing business, including the loss-making Shoe Express chain, which could result in an exceptional charge of up to £200m. 19-Sep-1997 Wickes is planning to expand its chain of DIY stores by 40 to 122 and significantly extend its product range over the next few years. 19-Sep-1997 Asda is introducing a pre-paid discount telephone card in conjunction with Telecom UK, and it should be available in all its stores by the end of the year. 18-Sep-1997 Tesco is planning to accelerate its expansion programme in central Europe and is also looking at the possibility of a move into the Far East. 17-Sep-1997 Calvin Klein is to open a sportswear store in London next spring as part of an aggressive international expansion plan. 13-Sep-1997 John Lewis is planning two new department stores, in Glasgow and Kent, and a new Waitrose in Salisbury, but increased investment in new stores could reduce the end-of-year bonus for employees. 12-Sep-1997 Whittard of Chelsea, the tea and coffee retailer, is expanding into south-east Asia and the Gulf region, and is applying to join the main stockmarket. 11-Sep-1997 UniChem is in discussions with a number of potential partners that will enable it to grow its wholesale and retail pharmacy business in continental Europe, which will be the focus of future expansion. 11-Sep-1997 Laura Ashley has sold a clothing factory in Dyfed to Merchants Design and Manufacturing. 10-Sep-1997 La Senza, the Canadian-owned lingerie retailer, is putting a stop on its UK expansion programme due to rising property prices and poor results so far. 10-Sep-1997 ShopElectric, Northern Ireland Electricity's retail chain, is undergoing a management buy-in, in which a consortium led by 3i will pay £1m and then invest a further £9m in the business. 10-Sep-1997 Jacques Vert, the womenswear retailer, has discovered a serious overvaluation of its stock which will cause it to lose more than £9m in the year to May. 04-Sep-1997 Great Universal Stores has sold its Canadian finance division, Superior Acceptance Corporation, to a subsidiary of Ford Motor for £80m. 04-Sep-1997 M&W, the convenience store group, is in discussions which could lead to an offer for the company. 04-Sep-1997 Laura Ashley is to open seven franchised clothing and home furnishings stores in Chile and ten in Argentina, in its first move into South America. 04-Sep-1997 James Beattie is planning to increase the sales space of two of its nine department stores, but has not yet named the stores. 04-Sep-1997 Iceland Group, the frozen food retailer, is launching a nationwide home delivery service, creating 1,000 jobs. 02-Sep-1997 Greenalls has sold its Greenalls Cellars off-licence business, which operates 460 outlets, to management for £56m, in order to focus on pubs and restaurants. 30-Aug-1997 Era Group is looking to sell Tecno, the photographic retailer, and its Leisuretime business, in order to stem continuing losses. 29-Aug-1997 Frozen Value, the chain of 43 frozen food shops in Yorkshire, is planning to expand into the rest of northern England and the Midlands, opening five new stores a year by 2000. 28-Aug-1997 Dixons is planning to double the size of The Link, the chain of 100 high street communications stores, within two years, creating 800 jobs. 28-Aug-1997 Books etc is planning a flotation in autumn in order to raise up to £7m to finance nationwide expansion, with an extra 14 outlets by 2001. 26-Aug-1997 The government has indicated it will support moves by retailers to end price-fixing by manufacturers, following Tesco's decision to discount prices on Adidas sportswear. 25-Aug-1997 Virgin Group has had a £135m offer to take control of the Our Price record chain rejected by WH Smith. 22-Aug-1997 Marks & Spencer is to open three more stores in Germany next year, in Dortmund, Wuppertal and Essen. 22-Aug-1997 Tie Rack has bought Knot Shops, the Chicago-based tie retailer, for £1.2m. 21-Aug-1997 The government has announced plans to run a further 65,000 hygiene inspections at butchers shops over the next two years in order to improve food standards. 20-Aug-1997 Allied Domecq is opening its first Victoria Wine drinks superstore in New Barnet, Herts, to be called Martha's Vineyard. 19-Aug-1997 Safeway has launched a £20m price cutting campaign to ensure that its products are competitive with those of its main rivals, although it wants to avoid a price war. 19-Aug-1997 WH Smith has denied reports that it may be broken up, with the core high street chain being separated from the Waterstone's book shops and the Our Price record chain. 18-Aug-1997 Nine West Group of the US has bought 65 department store concessions from the Sears shoe group for £9m, and Sears is still looking for a buyer for the remaining 150 concessions. 16-Aug-1997 Rosebys is to open two out-of-town shops combining its Rosebys household furnishings and Bensons beds, and further stores could follow if the idea succeeds. 14-Aug-1997 Dobbies Garden Centres has bought Clovergate, the garden centre that serves Wolverhampton and Stafford, for £1.3m. 12-Aug-1997 Style Holdings, the owner of the chain of Envy men's wear stores, is planning to join the Alternative Investment Market, having just raised £3m in a private placing. 11-Aug-1997 Unichem has bought 16 retail pharmacies from Triocare for £5.9m. 08-Aug-1997 Boots is to launch its new loyalty card in September which will offer 1p for every 25p spent, and the scheme is expected to increase sales by 4%. 07-Aug-1997 Marks & Spencer is linking up with Harvey Nichols' Hong Kong-based owner to set up 20 Brooks Brothers franchise stores in south east Asia over the next two years. 07-Aug-1997 HMV and Virgin Megastores, part of the WH Smith group, are planning to sell albums and videos on new internet sites, putting them in competition with some of their retail customers. 06-Aug-1997 Country Casuals, the women's clothing retailer, has announced that talks with potential bidders have ended and it now plans to revamp some of its 173 outlets and focus on its main brand. 05-Aug-1997 Tesco is considering plans to expand into south-east Asia, possibly China and Hong Kong, and has sent a senior manager over there to look for potential partners. 04-Aug-1997 The government is considering moves to permit pharmacists to diagnose minor ailments and offer drugs without a doctor's prescription, in response to a desire by the large pharmacy chains to become more customer-friendly. 04-Aug-1997 Headlam has acquired MCD, its main competitor in the distribution of floorings and fabrics, for £30m, and now hopes to make further acquisitions in continental Europe. 31-Jul-1997 The government is to ban electrical goods manufacturers from setting recommended retail prices, as they discourage price competition and prevent new retailers from getting supplies. 31-Jul-1997 Waterstone's and Dillons have both announced plans to launch expanded online bookstores on the internet this autumn, prompting speculation that a price war could develop. 30-Jul-1997 MFI has decided to withdraw from Germany, where it has been supplying products to furniture stores for two years. 30-Jul-1997 Allied Carpets is planning to invest £10m opening at least 20 Allied Carpets stores and up to 20 Carpetland stores this year. 29-Jul-1997 Booker, the cash-and-carry group, has closed the south London head office of its recently acquired Nurdin & Peacock business, as part of a plan to cut 1,200 jobs in the enlarged group. 29-Jul-1997 Kingfisher is in discussions to acquire BUT, the French electrical and furniture retailer in which it already holds a 26% stake. 25-Jul-1997 John Menzies has signed a deal to open 70 newsagent branches at London Underground stations. 23-Jul-1997 Sketchley has said that it would sell its dry cleaning and photo-processing retail chains if it could find a suitable buyer, in order to focus on business services. 22-Jul-1997 Allied Domecq Retailing has acquired the Togo's chain of 200 sandwich stores in California, which has net assets of about £5m. 22-Jul-1997 Etam, the fashion retailer, is planning to open three more concept stores, having recently opened the first in Leeds. 18-Jul-1997 Marks & Spencer is acquiring 19 stores from Littlewoods for £192m in order to increase its presence in town centres. 18-Jul-1997 WH Smith has won a concession to operate five news, book and gift shops at the new Hong Kong airport. 16-Jul-1997 WH Smith is launching a loyalty card nationwide following extensive trials, which will offer a 2% discount. 14-Jul-1997 Littlewoods is in discussions to sell up to 30 of its largest stores, and plans to focus its remaining stores on small retail outlets aimed at women over 45. 14-Jul-1997 Waterstone's is planning to open English language book stores in four European cities and at large European airports, while it also wants to build a superstore in London. 12-Jul-1997 Dixons is planning to create up to 3,000 jobs in its chain of electrical goods stores, following a 17% increase in sales in the first nine weeks of the year. 10-Jul-1997 Burton Group is to spin off its Debenhams department stores business, which is valued at over £1.5bn, in order to generate value for investors. 09-Jul-1997 Waterstone's, the WH Smith subsidiary, is to open bookshops in up to 50 small towns, each carrying about 25,000 titles, creating 400 jobs. 08-Jul-1997 WEW, the Glasgow-based discount retailer, is looking for potential buyers due to lower-than-expected sales. 08-Jul-1997 Budgens plans to open a further 40 convenience stores on petrol-station forecourts by the end of 1998 in joint ventures with Kuwait Petroleum and BP. 08-Jul-1997 Thorn is planning to close its chain of 64 domestic rental stores in France at a cost of £30m. 05-Jul-1997 Bentalls, the department store company, is setting up a distribution centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. 03-Jul-1997 John Menzies has given up on its attempt to sell Early Learning Centre, the troubled chain of children's shops, and will instead look at ways to revive sales. 02-Jul-1997 MFI is planning to restructure its distribution operation and continue to convert stores to the Homeworks format this year. 02-Jul-1997 Safeway is planning to introduce banks into its stores in a joint venture with Abbey National, starting with a trial in Leicester. 01-Jul-1997 Littlewoods is to restructure its chain of 135 high street stores with a possible flotation in a few years time, having failed to agree terms to sell the business to Kingfisher. 01-Jul-1997 Safeway is to start using rail to supply its stores, in a trial between the Midlands and Scotland. 30-Jun-1997 Great Universal Stores is looking out for a major acquisition in order to offset the decline in its home shopping business, and is also considering other ways to use its "skills in information technology, telephone ordering and product delivery". 27-Jun-1997 Safeway is acquiring a 50% stake in the 15 biggest stores owned by Wellworth in Northern Ireland, and will build a further three or four stores a year in the North and in the Republic in a joint venture with Fitzwilton Group. 20-Jun-1997 Courts, the furniture and electrical retailer, is planning to open up to 10 superstores in the north this year, and also wants to expand overseas, especially in south-east Asia. 20-Jun-1997 Watson & Philip is planning to open a further 82 Alldays convenience stores in the second half of this year. 18-Jun-1997 Sainsbury's is moving into all-night shopping from the start of July, with 25 stores staying open from 8am on Friday to 10pm on Saturday. 17-Jun-1997 Ventura, the customer service operation owned by the Next Group, is to create a further 100 jobs at its call centre in Leeds. 17-Jun-1997 Tesco is considering plans to introduce terminals into its supermarkets to enable customers to check their credit rating before applying for a loan from Tesco Personal Finance. 16-Jun-1997 The Co-op and Iceland supermarket chains are to ban alco-pops from their stores in support of government moves to crack down on under-age drinking. 14-Jun-1997 Wyevale Garden Centres has bought Jackman's Garden Centre in Woking for £1.9m. 14-Jun-1997 WH Smith is looking to spin off The Wall, its US music business, due to the effects of a price war in the industry. 13-Jun-1997 The Office of Fair Trading is to investigate the petrol retailing business through a firm of consultants, in order to understand the effects of low-cost supermarket outlets and alleged predatory pricing by oil companies. 12-Jun-1997 Ted Baker, the fashion retailer, is planning a flotation which will value the company at up to £60m, in order to help it establish a global brand. 12-Jun-1997 Whittard of Chelsea, the speciality tea and coffee retailer, is planning to launch a chain of up to 100 fashion clothing shops over the next five years, depending on the success of the first store in Windsor. 08-Jun-1997 Boots is to launch the Advantage loyalty card in its stores nationwide, offering points towards discounts on purchases. 06-Jun-1997 Dawn Til Dusk Holdings is acquiring Milbank Foods, the lossmaking discount food retailer with 39 outlets, from Birkby. 06-Jun-1997 WH Smith has arranged the sale and leaseback of 14 of its high street properties, raising £55m for debt repayment and investment. 06-Jun-1997 Heal's, the furniture retailer, is planning to set up new shops in large urban areas such as Manchester and Glasgow, its first move outside the south of England. 05-Jun-1997 Oasis, the fashion retailer, has issued a profits warning due to a high level of discounted sales and a lack of focus in the clothes collection. 04-Jun-1997 Wyevale Garden Centres has acquired the Harkness Garden Centre near Letchworth for £1.75m, giving it a total 58 garden centres. 03-Jun-1997 Victory Corporation, the trader of Virgin clothing and cosmetics, has announced plans to sell door-to-door, via mail order, and through 100 stores. 03-Jun-1997 Powerhouse is planning to open a further six electrical superstores this year with a stronger focus on white goods, creating about 100 jobs. 27-May-1997 Storehouse, the owner of the Mothercare and Bhs chains, is to invest £120m in store information systems and new shopping formats, creating about 1,000 new jobs. 23-May-1997 Marks & Spencer plans to add a further 1,700 jobs this year in order to support rising sales, and it also wants to double the number of stores in continental Europe to 70. 21-May-1997 Burton Group is testing a new "one-stop shop" format in its high street stores in an attempt to remove the reluctance of males to shop for clothes. 16-May-1997 Safeway is to create an additional 1,600 customer service jobs at existing stores, as well as a further 6,400 jobs at 34 new stores planned for the next two years. 15-May-1997 Topps Tiles, the tile retailer, is planning a London share listing which will value it at over £20m, as it aims to double the number of outlets from 54 over the next three years. 13-May-1997 Co-operative Retail Services is to invest £174m this year on new stores, refurbishments and computer systems, in an effort to transform the business. 08-May-1997 Asda, the retailer, has awarded a £200m 7-year contract to IBM for the outsourcing of all its internal computing operations, one of the largest such deals ever made in the UK. 02-May-1997 Etam, the women's wear retailer, is to revamp its 216 stores following an increase in losses. 02-May-1997 UniChem has expanded its chain to 468 outlets with the purchase of nine pharmacies for £4m, which will trade under the Moss Chemists name. 02-May-1997 Kwik Save is launching a range of higher quality own label products, priced about 10% cheaper than equivalents at the larger supermarket chains, as it aims to build own label sales to over 30% of total sales over the next three years. 28-Apr-1997 Austin Reed, the clothing retailer, is looking for acquisitions and plans to open concessions in the UK and set up licensing deals overseas. 25-Apr-1997 James Beattie is planning to increase selling space at its department stores by acquiring adjoining space, and it may also set up new sites. 24-Apr-1997 Cullens, the convenience store chain, has received a bid approach from an unnamed company. 23-Apr-1997 DFS Furniture is planning to expand further into the south of England, and aims to open up to a total of 20 stores before 2000. 23-Apr-1997 Liberty is to invest £40m in the expansion of its flagship store in London, and expand its smaller outlets at airports. 19-Apr-1997 Tie Rack has opened a shop in the Czech Republic and is now setting up a joint venture in Japan. 18-Apr-1997 JJB Sports has announced plans to open 50 new sports shops a year for the next five years. 17-Apr-1997 WH Smith is to split its retail business into two divisions which will separate its high street stores from those that operate at stations and airports, and will also transfer its distribution activities over to WH Smith News. 12-Apr-1997 French Connection, the fashion retailer, is to open three UK franchise outlets this year as well as eight new shops in the UK and US. 11-Apr-1997 Littlewoods is planning to sell its retail outlets in Russia and India in order to focus on its core business. 04-Apr-1997 Marks & Spencer is to introduce a mail order clothing catalogue next spring, initially in regional trials. 02-Apr-1997 Gehe of Germany is planning to sell three of the businesses gained from the acquisition of Lloyds Chemists - Holland & Barrett health food shops, National Veterinary Supplies and Martindales. 02-Apr-1997 Partners Holdings, the stationery retailer, is planning a flotation this month in order to fund expansion from 80 outlets to 220 by 2001. 01-Apr-1997 N Brown has pulled out of talks to acquire the Freemans mail order business from Sears, and Sears is said to have re-entered talks with Littlewoods. 27-Mar-1997 Next, the fashion retailer, is in discussions to form a financial services partnership to offer credit cards and insurance to its high street and mail order customers. 27-Mar-1997 World of Leather, the furniture retailer with 31 stores, is in takeover talks with an unnamed company. 26-Mar-1997 Hamleys has reached agreement with Burton Group to sell its toys through Debenhams outlets, and will pull out of an arrangement with House of Fraser. 26-Mar-1997 Tesco has acquired Quinnsworth, Stewarts and Crazy Prices, the supermarket chains, from Associated British Foods for £640m. 22-Mar-1997 Wm Morrison is planning a £200m expansion programme for its supermarket chain, including two superstores in the south of England, creating 2,250 jobs. 21-Mar-1997 Spar has won a £500m contract to manage the 200 Naafi shops on armed forces bases around the UK. 20-Mar-1997 The music market is facing a price war following recent price-cutting promotions for albums by Safeway and Tesco. 18-Mar-1997 Argos is planning to spend £1bn on acquisitions and will focus on the UK markets for toys, houseware and jewellery. 18-Mar-1997 Wickes is in discussions with an unnamed company to sell its 39 DIY stores in continental Europe. 15-Mar-1997 The Restrictive Practices Court has declared that the Net Book Agreement is illegal, thus officially ending the practice in which publishers set minimum prices for books. 14-Mar-1997 Waterstone's is to open the UK's biggest bookshop in Glasgow in the autumn. 11-Mar-1997 Littlewoods has pulled out of its proposed acquisition of the Freemans home shopping group from Sears, as it is angered by Sears holding discussions to sell the business to N Brown. 08-Mar-1997 Littlewoods is looking to sell its chain of 135 high street stores, and is said to have already received two approaches. 04-Mar-1997 Dobbies Garden Centres is planning to raise about £2.5m in a listing on Aim in order to fund the purchase of the freehold on an Edinburgh site. 04-Mar-1997 Great Universal Stores has set up a joint venture with British Land, called BL Universal, which will manage GUS' investment property portfolio. 28-Feb-1997 Thorn has announced plans to close 90 Radio Rentals shops, with the loss of 360 jobs, as part of a cost-cutting programme. 25-Feb-1997 Safeway plans to save £1m a year by introducing a satellite system to keep track of its 600 trucks as they move about the country. 24-Feb-1997 J Sainsbury is setting up a separate board for its supermarket business in an attempt to regain market share. 21-Feb-1997 Wickes is to withdraw from its South African joint venture with Federated Blaikie, in order to concentrate on its UK business. 18-Feb-1997 Great Universal Stores is in discussions to set up a real estate joint venture with British Land, which would buy and manage the investment property interests of GUS. 18-Feb-1997 Country Casuals is looking to sell its two loss-making businesses - Lerose, the garment manufacturer, and Elvi, the specialist in clothes for larger women. 18-Feb-1997 Allied Carpets is planning to open 20 Allied Carpets and 25 Carpetland stores a year over the next three years. 18-Feb-1997 Tesco is to launch a wide range of financial services in conjunction with Royal Bank of Scotland, thus ending its alliance with National Westminster Bank. 14-Feb-1997 Littlewoods' £395m acquisition of Freemans from Sears has been referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission as it would increase Littlewoods' share of the mail order market from about 15% to 25%. 12-Feb-1997 Tesco is to run a pilot scheme for all-night opening of four stores on Fridays from February 28. 10-Feb-1997 Lancia Trust is bidding £500m to acquire the non-food businesses of the Co-operative Wholesale Society and the Co-operative Retail Society, including department stores, garages, farms and funeral parlours. 10-Feb-1997 Moss Bros is to open an Yves St Laurent menswear store in Covent Garden, London. 08-Feb-1997 Marks & Spencer is to open a franchise in the United Arab Emirates later this year, its first venture in the Gulf region. 07-Feb-1997 Safeway is discussing a possible joint venture with Wellworth, the Northern Ireland supermarket group, which would enable it to overtake Tesco and Sainsbury in the province. 06-Feb-1997 Argos is expected to roll out its First Stop discount warehouse format later this year as well as its Call and Collect chain which is aimed at smaller market towns. 03-Feb-1997 Granada is to close 100 of its 562 high street TV rental stores with the loss of 250 jobs, as customers are now paying more by direct debit instead of visiting the stores. 01-Feb-1997 House of Fraser is to sell or close three stores in Eastbourne, Sheffield and Scunthorpe, and cut 1,000 jobs in a restructuring programme that will save £10m a year. 28-Jan-1997 Heal's, the retailer of home furnishings, is to raise up to £10m with a listing in March, with some of the proceeds earmarked for expansion. 28-Jan-1997 The Limited, the US clothes retailer, is planning to expand its UK chain of Bath and Body Works personal care stores from the current five to up to 200. 25-Jan-1997 Littlewoods has acquired a 30% stake in Jacques Vert, the women's wear group, and the two companies will together launch a new niche home-shopping catalogue. 23-Jan-1997 Watson & Philip plans to open 500 more Alldays convenience stores by 2000 using a unique regional franchising scheme. 23-Jan-1997 Tesco is planning to expand its Clubcard Plus debit card scheme and is thought to be preparing to launch a credit card as well as allowing customers to pay from home computers. 21-Jan-1997 Kingfisher is to close 28 of its out-of-town electrical stores and shed 1,500 jobs as part of the integration of Norweb Retail with its Comet chain. 18-Jan-1997 WH Smith is to close its chain of 29 Playhouse video shops. 18-Jan-1997 Kingfisher is considering a £300m bid for control of BUT, the French furniture and electricals retailer in which it already has a 20% stake. 16-Jan-1997 Gehe of Germany is acquiring Lloyds Chemists, the chain of 920 chemist shops, in a deal that values Lloyds at £684m and following a year-long takeover battle with the rival bidder UniChem. 14-Jan-1997 Dixons, the electrical retailer, is stepping up its expansion into Ireland with the acquisition of the retail assets of the Harry Moore chain. 14-Jan-1997 WH Smith is planning to sell up to 25% of its high street shops in order to fund a reduction in borrowings. 13-Jan-1997 J Sainsbury is linking up with Willis Corroon to offer home insurance through its Homebase DIY chain. 11-Jan-1997 Littlewoods has dropped plans to create 3,000 jobs through the expansion of its department stores, in order to concentrate on home shopping. 10-Jan-1997 Marks & Spencer is purchasing the Gyle shopping centre in Edinburgh for £122m, so that it can control development of the site. 10-Jan-1997 Boots has acquired Farmila Dermical, the Italian skin care concern, for £4.1m. 10-Jan-1997 JJB, the sports retailer, is closing its three Spanish stores at a cost of £400,000, in order to concentrate on the UK market. 09-Jan-1997 Wickes, the troubled DIY chain, has seen its shares resume trading following a six-month suspension, and there is now speculation over a possible takeover bid from companies such as CRH or RMC. 08-Jan-1997 Customer loyalty cards have attracted almost 60% of UK consumers, but one third of these people think the rewards are insufficient according to a report from Mintel. 07-Jan-1997 Goldsmiths, the jewellery group, is planning to open 12 new branches this year, to add to the current 125 stores. 03-Jan-1997
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