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Since our last update, SnapShop has recorded three administrations:
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Betta Living appointed administrators as rising rents pushed the company into a loss, and put pressure on cash flow
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American Apparel in the UK called in administrators from KPMG. The failure of two American Apparel UK companies, American Apparel (UK) Ltd and American Apparel (Carnaby) Ltd comes as the US company is being sold. The UK operation, along with some European parts of the business, is not part of the sale
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Bakery chain Cooplands collapsed into administration after its CVA failed, and was subsequently acquired by Cooplands Retail Limited, formerly associated with the same directors as Alison's Coffee Shop, which had traded as Cooplands since its initial administration last year
Despite what some would see as doom and gloom on the high street in terms of the rise in administrations reported over the past two months, and the news that Gap’s Banana Republic fascia is exiting its store presence in the UK, October’s retail sales grew at their highest rate since April 2002. Coupled with strong online growth throughout the month and backed up with GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index, the trend for buying now seems set to continue as we head towards Black Friday and Christmas.
Indeed, with many retailers now having launched their festive campaigns to entice shoppers and the grocers heading into battle over toy price matching schemes, it will be interesting to see if the big four can reclaim some lost ground over the discounters as we head towards the end of the year.
In other high street news:
With the crazy Christmas season upon us, FSP will be monitoring the news closely to see who is making a success of the latest retail evolutions.
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