DECEMBER 2006 31 Dec 2006 - Tesco snapped up half of all new shopping space in Britain this year once store closures were taken into account. 31 Dec 2006 - Little Chef are planning afoot to put its property arm into administration this weekend as they try to cook up a rescue deal. 29 Dec 2006 - JD Wetherspoon will double its rate of expansion by opening 30 new pubs in 2007. 22 Dec 2006 - O2 has disposed of more than 200 surplus stores across the UK, after its aquisition of The Link from DSGi in June. 22 Dec 2006 - Murphy & Nye is to embark on an 80-store global expansion programme next year. 22 Dec 2006 - Nuggs plans to open 20 stores in the UK, they currently have 2. 22 Dec 2006 - Sports World owner Mike Ashley has added the Streetwise Sports chain to his retail empire for an undisclosed sum. 21 Dec 2006 - Kout Food Group are planning a chain of healthy eating cafes called Nuts About Life, and has 3 restaurant projects in the pipeline. The first Nuts About Life site will open on London's Fetter Lane next month. 16 Dec 2006 - Foot Asylum will open in Wood Green, London, next month. 16 Dec 2006 - Reiss is planning to open its first accessories-only store next year. They also plan to add 10 stores in 2007. 16 Dec 2006 - Bravissimo aims to double its retail portfolio in the next 3 years. 15 Dec 2006 - Geox is on the hunt for a UK flagship and plans to open 7 stores in the UK within the next few months. 15 Dec 2006 - Bestseller is in negotiations for its second UK store at the Arndale centre in Manchester. 15 Dec 2006 - MK One has put 20 stores on the market including stores in the Manchester Arndale, Glasgow and Leeds. 15 Dec 2006 - Stationery Box have been acquired by Hilco for an undisclosed sum. 15 Dec 2006 - Glyn Webb went into administration last month. The 22-store chain have been bought by investors the Arora brothers. It is understood that, unless buyers are found by today, 10 of the stores will close and the fate of the remaining 12 stores is uncertain. 15 Dec 2006 - Alexon has sold its Dolcis chain to John Kinnaird for just £3m. 12 Dec 2006 - The Co-operative Group is discussing a merger with United Co-operatives. A merger would create a group with more than 2,300 food shops. 9 Dec 2006 - Tommy Hilfiger has signalled its UK comeback by opening a London flagship on Regent Street. They are also opening a 2,000 sq ft store next week in the Metquarter in Liverpool. 9 Dec 2006 - Baugur is to buy All Saints by the end of the month. 9 Dec 2006 - Intimas has 2 outlets in the UK and plans to open a further 6 next year. 7 Dec 2006 - Tony Romas has aggressive expansion plans in the UK. 6 Dec 2006 - Carluccio's is to continue its expansion with 3 stores opening in Bloomsbury, Spitalfields and Covent Garden in central London and 2 more in Manchester and Walton-on-Thames. They have the potential for 100 stores in the UK. 6 Dec 2006 - Luminar has finally offloaded its entertainment division in a partial sale and leaseback deal with Prestbury, for £76.8m in cash and a £19m loan to NewCo. The 98 properties are mostly held on short leases, although the 19 being sold to Prestbury are freehold. 2 Dec 2006 - Farmers City Market are to open its first store in Hampton Hill, London and are opening 3 units in the south-east by March. 2 Dec 2006 - Arrogant Cat currently have 6 stores and are searching for more. They are hoping to open 30 stores in 5 years and are also scouting for locations in the UK and will open in Leeds and Liverpool early next year. 2 Dec 2006 - USC is taking aim at the denim market with the mooted launch of 2 young fashion denim-only formats in Leeds and Nottingham. 1 Dec 2006 - ScS Upholstery expects to reach the 100 store mark next year after opening 21 outlets during its last financial year. 1 Dec 2006 - Blend opened its first standalone store in the UK last weekend, at the Manchester Arndale centre. It plans to roll out up to 50 standalone stores in the next 5 years. 1 Dec 2006 - Kingfisher will more than double the number of Trade Depot outlets over the next 15 months. They will add 5 Trade Depot builder's sheds to its existing 4 in the UK. 1 Dec 2006 - Halfords have revealed they will be opening a 2nd Bike Hut store in February. Ian McLeod has stated they plan to open 15 to 20 Halfords stores a year. 1 Dec 2006 - Buffalo David Bitton is to debut in London this month. It will open a 4,305 sq ft flagship at Kensington High Street. Additional stores will open in Brighton, Croydon and Kingston upon Thames within the next few months. 1 Dec 2006 - Mountain Warehouse are seeking an investor to assist its expansion plans. 1 Dec 2006 - Day Birger et Mikkelsen is to begin a retail roll-out in the UK, following Baugur's acquisition of 50% of the business. They plan to open 6 to 8 womenswear stores in the UK next year. 1 Dec 2006 - American Apparel are to open its first store outside London in Liverpool One. 1 Dec 2006 - Fat Face has appointed investment bank NM Rothschild as an advisor, stoking speculation that preparations are under way for a sale or float. 1 Dec 2006 - Crew Clothing have unveiled plans to more than double its store portfolio within the next 4 years. The 34-store chain will open between 10 and 12 stores a year for the next 4 years. 1 Dec 2006 - Ecko Unlimited are searching for sites in central London for a flagship store. 1 Dec 2006 - Juicy Juicy plans to open 10 more stores in the UK over the next 18 months. They opened its first store in May and have 23 target cities, including Bath, Cardiff, Exeter, Cheltenham, Reading, Oxford and Birmingham. 1 Dec 2006 - Pret A Manger is to launch a kiosk concept for retail parks, airports and railway station. They also aim to open 20 shops every year in the UK for at least 3 years. NOVEMBER 2006 29 Nov 2006 - London Town has acquired 167 pubs from entrepreneur Jack Petchey's company in a cash and shares agreement totalling £94.6m. 28 Nov 2006 - Bank Restaurant Group is to take over the Individual Restaurant Company. The deal will see IRC, take control of the enlarged Bank Group. They will have more than 20 restaurants throughout the UK. 25 Nov 2006 - Coco Ribbon have closed its store on London's Sloane Street. 29 Nov 2006 - A Gift from the Gods are to open 2 stores next year. 25 Nov 2006 - Slater Menswear will roll out a new look for store openings in Norwich and Swansea next year. 25 Nov 2006 - Elvi has signed a flagship on New Bond Street, London. They are also planning to expand from 25 standalone stores to 45 within the next 3 years. 25 Nov 2006 - Blacks Leisure Group is rolling out a new shopfit for its Millets chain. The roll-out follows trials at stores in Newbury, Kings Lynn and Kingston upon Thames. It will then be rolled out to the remaining 285 Millet stores in the next 5 years. Blacks Leisure is also gearing up to relaunch Mambo in the spring. 25 Nov 2006 - White Stuff opened 8 stores during the last financial year and are planning to open about 1 store a month for the next year. 23 Nov 2006 - Clapham House Group are looking for 100 locations across the UK over the next 2 years for its Gourmet Burger Kitchen chain. They are also searching for 45 locations each for the Real Greek and the Bombay Bicycle Club. Clapham House has also refurbished several of its Tootsies restaurants, converting one to a Gourmet Burger Kitchen, with plans to convert 2 more in the second half. Up to 10 Tootsies may be converted into Gourmet Burger Kitchen. 19 Nov 2006 - Individual Restaurant Company is heading to the stock market via a reverse takeover of Bank Restaurant Group. 18 Nov 2006 - Bik Bok has taken a flagship on London's Oxford Street. 18 Nov 2006 - Austin Reed have been acquired by Guy Naggar and Peter Klimt, the financiers behind property investor Dawnay Day. They have agreed to buy the retailer for £49m. About £50m of growth will come from opening more Austin Reed and CC stores and concessions in the UK. 18 Nov 2006 - Sports World will rebrand all its new store openings as Sportsdirect.com. 17 Nov 2006- Alliance Boots has unveiled a Boots Pharmacy, its first new store model since the merger of Boots and Alliance UniChem in July. It opened on Monday in Billericay high street in Essex. 17 Nov 2006 - Alexi Andriotti is to launch its first UK store in Glasgow. They have taken a unit at Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow city centre. 17 Nov 2006 - Robert Dyas aims to acquire a further 10 stores in London and the Southeast over the next 6 months. They have just acquired outlets at Sevenoaks and Weybridge. 17 Nov 2006 - Mothercare is to roll out its out-of-town format. The trial at its 2 out-of-town stores in Watford and Basingstoke are going very well and they have extended it to a further 5 stores in Southampton, Oxford, Stevenage, Ipswich and Torquay. 17 Nov 2006 - Neal's Yard Remedies is to open 2 stores in central London, increasing its portfolio to 26 shops. They will be located in Marylebone high street and Foubert's Place. 17 Nov 2006 - Dreams have acquired Off to Bed for an undisclosed sum. They have 8 stores and are located between Edinburgh and Glasgow. 13 Nov 2006 - Subway plan to open 1250 stores by the end of 2010. 11 Nov 2006 - Sports World owner Mike Ashley has bought Kangol. He snapped up the brand from August Equity Trust for a rumoured £10m. 11 Nov 2006 - Calzedonia have opened 3 stores in the UK since May and a fourth will open on London's Oxford Street under the Intimissimi name. They also want to open 1 or 2 company owned stores in the next 6 months, including 1 on Regent Street in London. 11 Nov 2006 - Henleys has opened its first store in the Arndale Centre in Manchester. 11 Nov 2006 - Pull and Bear are to launch its fascia in the UK and are close to signing its debut store at Westfield's White City scheme in west London. 11 Nov 2006 - John Lewis plans to add 21 new shops to its 26-strong chain. 10 stores are planned to open by 2015, including shops in Leicester, Cardiff, Portsmouth and Leeds. 3 more new sites in Cambridge, Liverpool and Sheffield will be relocations. The new stores will be at least 150,000 sq ft. 11 Nov 2006 - Prada is to regain ownership of UK footwear brand Church's by reacquiring a 55% stake in the business. 11 Nov 2006 - Jones Bootmaker is planning a £6m revamp of its 79-store portfolio. They are aiming to open 21 new shops in the next 4 years, taking its total number of stores to 100. Store openings in Warwick, Leamington Spa, Plymouth and Cardiff are scheduled before the end of this year. 11 Nov 2006 - Ecco aims to open more London stores next year. They have 19 owned stores and 3 franchise shops in the UK and is aiming for double-digit store numbers in major UK cities within the next 3 years. 10 Nov 2006 - Kate Kuba are to open department store concessions across the UK. They are considering sites in Manchester, Leeds, Dublin and Glasgow. 10 Nov 2006 - Dobbies will open its first Northern Ireland store in Belfast in 2008. 10 Nov 2006 - JD Sports has instructed property agency Capa to dispose of more than 40 stores. The disposals are spread across the UK at locations including Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Warrington, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Norwich and Wigan. 10 Nov 2006 - Ilva is to open a clearance outlet in its 650,000 sq ft distribution centre in Doncaster. Ilva intends to open 20 UK stores within the next 10 years. 9 Nov 2006 - Coffee Republic are to accelerate its franchising programme with up to 20 bars to be opened in each UK region over the next 3 to 5 years. 9 Nov 2006 - Pulse has launched its first UK restaurant in Shepherds Bush, west London. They also plan to open a further 20 outlets across the UK over the next 3 years. 8 Nov 2006 - Marks and Spencer are redesigning flagship stores in prominent city centres such as Liverpool and Edinburgh and adding more out-of-town locations. 4 Nov 2006 - Land of Leather intends to open 6 stores on Boxing Day and a further 3 before the financial year ends in July. 4 Nov 2006 - Timothy Everest is expanding its made-to-measure business into department stores and is planning to open a bespoke store in London's Savile Row. 4 Nov 2006 - Bijou Brigitte will be expanding into the UK. 4 Nov 2006 - Paul hopes to expand to 50 stores over the next 4 years. 4 Nov 2006 - Ugg is scouting for locations for a London flagship store. 4 Nov 2006 - Zuma is expanding in the UK and are actively looking for units. 4 Nov 2006 - Jeff Banks will open its second store, at Street in Somerset and have up 20 more stores planned over the next couple of years in outlet centres. 3 Nov 2006 - BrightHouse sees the potential for at least 100 new stores in addition to the 145 high street locations it already has. 3 Nov 2006 - Aftershock, which went into administration earlier this year, has signed its remaining UK stores over to its South African franchisee Winway Trading. 1 Nov 2006 - Midlands Co-op are opening 2 new stores in Eccleshall and Jacksdale in the spring. 1 Nov 2006 - Chocolat Chocolat will make its debut at the Brunswick Centre in London's Bloomsbury next month. 1 Nov 2006 - Sony Ericsson are opening its first standalone store at the end of November on Kensington High Street in London. 1 Nov 2006 - Kwik Save have purchased 45 Somerfield stores. 1 Nov 2006 - DSG International are looking for locations in the top 100 towns and cities in the UK. They have also launched a new format called TechGuys and plans a national roll-out of up to 250 stores, starting with Bristol's Gloucester Road and a unit at East Reading Retail Park. 1 Nov 2006 - Hotel Chocolat is continuing to drive forward its store expansion program with new deals signed at 5 centres. 1 Nov 2006 - Mike Ashley, the owner of Lily Whites, was yesterday confirmed as the owner of a 29% stake in Blacks Leisure. 1 Nov 2006 - Screwfix Direct are to take its format to more than 100 locations by next year. 1 Nov 2006 - Marks and Spencer is secretly planning a trial of homewares and furniture stores and will only be on retail parks. 1 Nov 2006 - Aldi are opening its first city centre store in Manchester. 1 Nov 2006 - 3 are opening 120 high street stores before Christmas across the UK. The 120 new stores will include 73 of The Link shopfronts that have been bought by 3 from O2. 1 Nov 2006 - Balls Brothers has bought the Lewis & Clarke bar-restaurant business from its owners Steve Wilkins and John Connell for an undisclosed sum. OCTOBER 2006 31 Oct 2006 - Star Bowl have just opened its first site in North Shields. 30 Oct 2006 - Pod want to open 4 outlets next year. 28 Oct 2006 - Uniqlo will roll out a new shopfit to all its UK stores after debuting the format at an expanded flagship in London's Oxford Street. They are also searching for a 20,000 sq ft shop in London and wants to open 10 more stores in the capital over the next 2 years, before aiming for 30 new stores outside London by 2010. 28 Oct 2006 - Jane Norman is to embark on an aggressive expansion strategy of up to 30 new outlets a year. They are searching in towns such as Cardiff and Oxford for solus locations. 28 Oct 2006 - Cult Clothing and Superdry have run separately until now, but are set to merge as part of a business restructering strategy. Founder and co-owner Julian Dunkerton, plans to open 3 Superdry stores in the UK early next year and double the number of Cult Clothing stores within 5 years. 28 Oct 2006 - JD Sports has revealed its latest store concept at its new 18,000 sq ft flagship store in the Arndale Centre in Manchester. The shop will be a prototype for further large JD Sports store openings. 28 Oct 2006 - Totally Phat is on the expansion trail after a new opening at the Bullring in Birmingham this week. They have also confirmed that 2 more stores will open next spring in Scotland and the north of England. 28 Oct 2006 - Mountain Warehouse are hunting for town centre locations across the UK and will focus on high street openings of about 2,500 sq ft. 28 Oct 2006 - Pavers is to open 50 outlets over the next 5 years as part of a £7m expansion plan. They aim to grow to 100 outlets by the end of 2010 and add 10 stores a year. 28 Oct 2006 - Offshoot Clothing are on the expansion trail, with a shop opening in Stratford upon Avon next month and 4 or 5 stores opening next year. 25 Oct 2006 - Debenhams plan to open another 20 stores in the current year. 21 Oct 2006 - Esprit will open 3 stores before the end of the year, in Basingstoke, Perth and Letterkenny. They are also opening at least 10 more stores next year. 21 Oct 2006 - Xile Clothing will open a Replay franchise store in Edinburgh next week. 20 Oct 2006 - New Heights have bought Sofa Workshop for £1.8m. The deal added 32 stores to its portfolio of 16. 20 Oct 2006 - Virgin Mobile will open between 10 and 15 outlets next year. Virgin Mobile was acquired by NTL last year and opened its first standalone store at Lakeside in July. 20 Oct 2006 - BWG Holdings, which runs the Spar franchise in Southwest England and in the Republic of Ireland, is to buy the business from private equity house Cognetas for £261.4m. 20 Oct 2006 - Wickes will open an additional 140 stores in the UK. 20 Oct 2006 - Holland and Barratt has unveiled an expansion target of 25 stores for the next 12 months, which will include a big push into Ireland. 20 Oct 2006 - Topps Tiles plans to open 30 of its new-look stores by the end of next year. It has already opened 8. They are also opening a further 6-8 shops before Christmas. 20 Oct 2006 - Dreams was due to open its first Northern store today. The shop at Warrington is part of a wider roll-out, which will see Dreams open 8 stores in the Northwest before Christmas. They also intend to add another 30 stores next year. 14 Oct 2006 - Jack & Jones are to open 15 stores over the next 4 years and tend to open in bigger towns. 14 Oct 2006 - De Gruchy was bought by Ulster Stores for an undisclosed amount. 14 Oct 2006 - Pearsons will shut its 80,000 sq ft shop in Wood Green, north London, next March and have added 8,000 sq ft to its existing 60,000 sq ft store in the Palace Xchange, Enfield. 14 Oct 2006 - Duo is launching its Fitting Room concept on London's Saville Row this month. 13 Oct 2006 - Elvi intends to double the size of the business, following its acquisition by Langholm Capital. 23 shops are planned to open over the next 3 years. 13 Oct 2006 - Halfords are increasing its rate of store openings in the Republic of Ireland. 13 Oct 2006 - MFI has sold its Sofa Workshop business to New Heights for £1.8m. 13 Oct 2006 - Only2 have opened its first store near Birmingham and plans to open 50 stores by the end of 2010. 8 stores are set to open before Christmas, with sites including Gloucester, Swansea and Southend. 13 Oct 2006 - Maplin are to open 6 more stores before Christmas and another 20 are lined up for next year. 12 Oct 2006 - Jessops has agreed to acquire MacKinnons of Dyce, which runs 20 photography stores in Scotland and Northern Ireland. MacKinnons, which trades as Photo Factory in 19 of the 20 stores and CS Boyne at the other, will double its presence in Scotland. 12 Oct 2006 - Burberry opened 6 new stores during the first half of the year and plans another 6 in the second half. 8 Oct 2006 - Gondola Holdings has agreed to a takeover by private equity firm Cinven that values the company at £559m. 8 Oct 2006 - Elvi is selling its 25 stores and 57 concessions to a former boss of The White Company. 7 Oct 2006 - Botterills Convenience Stores are planning to open 4-5 new stores during 2007. 7 Oct 2006 - Somerfield have pulled the plug on its Market Fresh and Essentials formats. 7 Oct 2006 - Cortefiel is understood to be planning a UK launch. 7 Oct 2006 - New Balance plans to open up to 30 franchise stores in the UK and Europe in the next 3 years. 7 Oct 2006 - Alexon is axing its Mandolin chain. They will be converting its 17 Mandolin shops to other formats within the group or sold off. 7 Oct 2006 - From Somewhere is preparing to open its first store in London. They have put in an offer for a shop in Notting Hill and hopes to open in November. 7 Oct 2006 - Pilgrim have opened a flagship store at Bluewater in Kent. They are also looking for a UK office in London, aswell as store locations in Manchester. 6 Oct 2006 - Ilva is closing in on its fourth and fifth UK stores at Reading and Milton Keynes. 6 Oct 2006 - Red5 opened its third store in Sheffield's Meadowhall last week. They are aiming to add 20 stores to its chain next year. 6 Oct 2006 - Auntie Anne's are searching for new stores and have just opened its sixth UK store at The Centre, Milton Keynes. 6 Oct 2006 - Halfords is to launch a new national chain of bicycle shops called Bike Hut. They are set to launch this autumn with a store in Brighton, followed by 2 other pilots, with a view to a nationwide roll-out next year. 6 Oct 2006 - Jessops plan to open 15 stores over the next 12 months, on top of the 20 it acquired this week by taking over MacKinnons of Dyce. 5 Oct 2006 - Punch Taverns has entered into an agreement with the owner of former Michelin-starred Overton Grange in Ludlow to develop a group of branded food-led pubs. The new chain is yet to be named. They have secured its first site on the A49 between Hereford and Shrewsbury. They also plan to have up to 6 pubs in the chain in the next 3 years. 5 Oct 2006 - Carluccio's plans to take its restaurants beyond the south-east to cities such as Bristol and Bath. They plan to open about 5 stores a year. 3 Oct 2006 - Spar are to open 30-40 stores a year. 3 Oct 2006 - The Co-operative Group Pharmacy have bought 5 chemist branches in Bristol from Tower Pharmacy for an undisclosed sum. 3 Oct 2006 - Next Generation Clubs have been acquired by London & Regional for £200m. 1 Oct 2006 - Swarovski are opening a store in Bluewater and are also looking for central London stores. 1 Oct 2006 - Sainsburys is to acquire 5 stores from Somerfield. 1 Oct 2006 - The John David Group aims to complete conversion of its Ath stores to the Scotts fascia. 1 Oct 2006 - Nite Nite has a target to open 35 hotels by 2012. They are currently looking at 4 sites - 2 in Manchester and 2 in London. 1 Oct 2006 - Marks and Spencer are to open 2 new Simply Food stores at Gatwick Airport. 1 Oct 2006 - Good 2 Go have outlined ambitious growth plans aiming to open 20 stores within 5 years, after opening its 9th store. They are working on a deal for a further 5 stores at the moment. 1 Oct 2006 - Wing Yip will continue its growth with its 6th outlet in Nottingham, expected to be built by 2009. 1 Oct 2006 - Waitrose are to open a further 6 stores by the end of the year, taking the total of stores to 183. Next year, fewer stores are planned to open, with a target of 190 for the year end. 1 Oct 2006 - Netto have took control of another 19 Kwik Save branded locations from Somerfield this year. 1 Oct 2006 - United Co-operatives and Sheffield Co-operative Society are in merger talks that could see the 2 businesses joining forces by early next year. 1 Oct 2006 - Julian Graves are aiming to increase its estate by 17% with 50 new stores in 2007. Its 300th store is due to open next week in Chelmsford. They also plan to open 11 more before Christmas. 1 Oct 2006 - Asda's non food Living stores could go well into double figures next year. They opened its 7th store in Leeds, this week. 1 Oct 2006 - B & M Retail aims to expand in Wales after the opening of its first shop in the country, in Flint. Simon Arora, managing director hopes they can secure up to 20 more UK stores in 2007. 1 Oct 2006 - Tesco's Home Plus format is ripe to roll out. 1 Oct 2006 - Marks and Spencer's Simply Food format is to increase to between 200 and 300 stores over the next few years. 1 Oct 2006 - Joy are opening a store in London's St Christopher's Place this week, and stores in Croydon, Leicester and Merry Hill next month. 1 Oct 2006 - Hob will open its first store in October in Bloomsbury, London and is searching for further sites across the UK. 1 Oct 2006 - Beard Papa is set to open its debut store on Oxford Street. They plan to have 3 more stores in central London and 25 in total across the UK over 5 years. 1 Oct 2006 - Extreme is now well on its way with a rollout plan for its chain of Ex-branded shops across the UK. 1 Oct 2006 - Yotel are due to open at Gatwick's South Terminal soon and is interested in 10,000-60,000 sq ft sites in major UK and international cities. 1 Oct 2006 - Slater Menswear is to axe its menswear tag as it expands its womenswear offer into all of its shops. 1 Oct 2006 - Bratz has opened a store in Manchester's Arndale Centre, and is scheduled to open a shop in Bristol in 2008. SEPTEMBER 2006 27 Sept 2006 - Regent Inns are looking to buy more casual dining businesses to build on its Old Orleans chain. 27 Sept 2006 - Paramount Restaurants are being bought by PPM Capital in a deal worth £108m. 23 Sept 2006 - Next opened its first Lime standalone store in Derby last week. A second Lime standalone store in Newbury is due to open this week, another is due to open in Doncaster next week and another in Nottingham next month. These stores are all former high street Next shops. 23 Sept 2006 - Gerard Darel are to open 5-10 stores in the UK. They are searching for locations in Richmond and Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, Wimbledon in London, Manchester, Dublin, Glasgow and Chester. They also want to open a flagship store in London's Kings Road or Sloane Square. 23 Sept 2006 - Joseph Azagury is to open new stores in London. They are planning to open 2 or 3 sites in the next 2 years, including a store in Bond Street which is likely to be followed by a store in Hampstead in north London or Richmond in Surrey. He then intends to open stores in other major UK cities such as Manchester. 23 Sept 2006 - Jeff Banks is thought to be planning to open standalone menswear stores with supplier BMB Group. The first store is likely to be in York. 23 Sept 2006 - Asda has unveiled a new Asda Living store format at the Crown Point Retail Park in Leeds. They are also opening a George standalone store next month in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. 23 Sept 2006 - Clapham House Group intend to grow from 64 to more than 600 outlets in just 10 years. 23 Sept 2006 - Blue Inc are to open 6 stores in the south-east from the end of this month, in Harrow, Feltham, Maidstone, Slough, Sutton and Walton. Two more will open in the run-up to Christmas, in Camberley and Luton. They intend to increase its number of stores from 27 to 60 in the next 18 months. 23 Sept 2006 - Bonmarche will open another 5 stores this year and has a target of 15 to 20 next year. 23 Sept 2006 - Intimas are opening 2 1,500 sq ft clearance outlets in Long Eaton in Nottingham and Braintree in Essex next month. Chief Executive, Carol Duncumb denied that the outlets were a precursor to the roll-out of a new high street lingerie chain. 23 Sept 2006 - Merchant Equity Partners has agreed to buy MFI for just £1. They plan to turn around the 200-store chain and sell it on for up to £500m in 5 years. 23 Sept 2006 - Dunelm Mills plan to expand to 150 superstores nationwide and have just launched an online store. 23 Sept 2006 - Mr Johnson has just bought an 80% stake in Patisserie Valerie for £6m through his private equity company, Risk Capital Partners. He plans to expand the business outside the capital and open 20 or more sites within the next 2 to 3 years. 23 Sept 2006 - Next opened its first Lime standalone store in Derby last week. 22 Sept 2006 - Joy have launched a new chain called Hob and will open at the end of October at the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, London. They are also opening an eponymous store at the Brunswick Centre next month. 22 Sept 2006 - Hughes & Hughes plan to increase its total portfolio to 50 to 60 stores in the next 4 years. 22 Sept 2006 - Internacionale has been acquired from founder Ken Cairnduff in a management buy-out worth £45m. 21 Sept 2006 - Masala World has secured 2 new London sites. The restaurants are located in Camden Town and Floral Street, Cocent Garden and are due to open next spring. They plan further London openings next year. 21 Sept 2006 - Yo! Sushi is to launch a new retail concept with kiosks that will run as a seperate chain from the restaurants. The first two outlets are set to open in London Wall and London Liverpool Street next month. 20 Sept 2006 - Luminar are considering selling its 74 sites to TDR Capital, but have not yet come to a decision. 19 Sept 2006 - Goals Soccer Centres are set to open 5 further sites by the end of 2007. 18 Sept 2006 - Fopp is expanding in Scotland with 7 additional stores planned to open next year. 16 Sept 2006 - Smythson is to open a shop in Westbourne Grove in London's Notting Hill before the end of February 2007 and plans to open a further 8 stores in the UK in the next 18 months. 16 Sept 2006 - MFI is to sell its business to Merchant Equity Partners. The deal is set to be signed this weekend. 16 Sept 2006 - Joy opens its first West End store in London's St Christopher's place on September 22. They also plan to open branches in the Bloomsbury area of west London, as well as in Croydon, Leicester and in Merry Hill in Dudley. 15 Sept 2006 - Dwell will open its third UK store in Birmingham in November. They are also on the hunt for 10,000 sq ft sites in metropolitan locations, including Manchester, Edinburgh, Leeds and Glasgow. 15 Sept 2006 - T-Mobile plans to have 300 stores by the tail end of next year. 15 Sept 2006 - Thresher Group have opened a store at McArthurglens Designer Outlet in Mansfield. 15 Sept 2006 - Punch Taverns have bought Mill House Inns for £169m. The deal includes 82 pubs, which brings its division to 762 pubs. 15 Sept 2006 - Sports World has opened several new stores under the SportsDirect.com fascia. 15 Sept 2006 - Ilva have opened its second UK store in Manchester's Piccadilly Basin. A third UK store will open at Gateshead's Metro Centre in November. 15 Sept 2006 - Wickes are adding about 10 stores a year and searching for sites of between 15,000 sq ft and 50,000 sq ft. 15 Sept 2006 - Zara Home is scheduled to open its third outlet in the UK later this year. 15 Sept 2006 - Maplin unveils a new store in Oxford tomorrow. They are looking to open 20 stores a year. 15 Sept 2006 - Toymaster Kingdom has gone into administration. KPMG are the administrators. 15 Sept 2006 - Swallow Group has gone into administration after losing control of its rapid expansion programme. 14 Sept 2006 - Next will open 500,000 sq ft of new space in the current year and may open more mega-stores of 80,000 sq ft. They are also planning to take on the value fashion chains with its Lime sub-brand. 14 Sept 2006 - The Restaurant Group plans to open up to 45 new restaurants by the end of 2006. 13 Sept 2006 - Prezzo are rapidly approaching 100 outlets and hopes to maintain a pace of up to 30 new openings a year. 10 Sept 2006 - Smythson plans to increase its store numbers to 30 from its current 9 over the next 4 years. 10 Sept 2006 - BB's Coffee & Muffins plan to open 23 more cafes before the end of this year. 10 Sept 2006 - Brooks Brothers will open large stores in Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh. 9 Sept 2006 - Subway is to open 3 trial concessions in Tesco stores. It is due to start in the next month, and will take place in 3 Express stores in the north Midlands and south of England. 9 Sept 2006 - The Unwins name is set to disappear completely from the high streets, following the sale of the last Unwins store in Chiswick, West London. 9 Sept 2006 - Heavens Playground will launch its retail concept in the UK within 12 months. Hayden Yates, country manager will open a store in London and a store in Manchester over the next year. 9 Sept 2006 - Sainsbury's is opening, extending or refitting 33 stores between now and Christmas. They have also lined up 6 new stores to open, while 11 stores are being refurbished and a further 16 are extended. 9 Sept 2006 - Fat Face plan to open 15-20 stores a year. 9 Sept 2006 - Barneys New York has denied speculation that it will open its first UK store. 9 Sept 2006 - Margaret Howell will open its third London store in Fulham Road on September 20th. 9 Sept 2006 - Tudor Williams have acquired James Knight & Sons and plans to look for further acquisitions. 8 Sept 2006 - Select is searching for suitable sites in Scotland to open an additional 10 stores within the next 12 months. They have so far signed to take a store in Rutherglen Shopping Centre in South Lanarkshire and another in East Kilbridge Shopping Centre. 8 Sept 2006 - Zadig & Voldaire wants to expand its UK presence, following the success of its first store on London's Sloane Street. They intend to expand further in the next few years and will be considering sites that are in prime locations. 8 Sept 2006 - Celeste is to open its first store in the UK at The Centre in Feltham. 7 Sept 2006 - Barracuda Group is due to open 12 new pubs this month. 9 of the new openings will be under the Sniths & Jones banner, 3 will be Varsity sites and 1 a Barracuda bar. Locations include Weymouth, Dorset, Bathgate, West Lothian and Brighton. 7 Sept 2006 - Gondola Holdings have had an offer from Cinven to buy its restaurant chains for £559m. 7 Sept 2006 - Robuchon will open its first restaurant today in Covent Garden. 3 Sept 2006 - Virgin Active will rebrand all 47 Holmes Place gyms after it merges with them. It will take 18 months for the Holmes Place brand to disappear and replaced with the Virgin Active logo. 3 Sept 2006 - Hawkins Bazaar are aiming to add 100 outlets to the current chain of 22 shops over the next 5 years. 3 Sept 2006 - Conran Holdings is on the lookout for more London hotels to buy following the profitable sale of its Great Eastern Hotel. 2 Sept 2006 - Diffusion is opening a G-Star franchise store in Birmingham in November. The 2,500 sq ft shop would be located in the Bullring Centre. 2 Sept 2006 - Barneys New York is to open its first shop in the UK in West London. 2 Sept 2006 - Republic opened its largest store to date last week in the Arndale Centre in Manchester. 2 Sept 2006 - Ice Jeans is planning to more than double its store portfolio to 11 shops within a year. 3 stores will open this autumn, with the first at Sheffield's Crystal Peaks centre. Other locations, aswell as 3 further sites planned for 2007, have yet to be confirmed. 2 Sept 2006 - Joules are planning to open 2 or 3 UK stores for Spring 07. They are searching for sites in Edinburgh and coastal towns. 2 Sept 2006 - Kyri will open its first store this month on Elizabeth Street, London. 2 Sept 2006 - Ghost has confirmed it will close its wholesale operation to focus on UK retailing. 2 Sept 2006 - Office has opened 13 stores in the first half of the year and a further 6 shops are due to open over the next 3 months. 2 Sept 2006 - Craghoppers plan to double its 30-strong concessions business. 2 Sept 2006 - Brooks Brothers plan to open between 10 and 12 stores in the next 5 years. 1 Sept 2006 - Borders is due to open 5 stores before the end of November. The stores are located in Dundee, Newbury, Southampton, Milton Keynes and its first Irish store in Dublin. 1 Sept 2006 - DSG International has closed Dixons Warehouse. They have converted its store in Town Gate Retail Park in Dudley to a Currys outlet. 1 Sept 2006 - Faces will debut in the UK next year and is looking at potential sites, including Bluewater and London's Brent Cross. 1 Sept 2006 - Blacks Leisure has completed 2 deals with Evans Cycles and Mambo. They will take over Mambo's 4 UK stores. They also aim to test an Evans Cycles concession in its store at the Monks Cross Shopping Park near York, in October. 1 Sept 2006 - Robert Dyas plan to open a further 10 standalone stores before the end of March. Rob Cissell, chief executive has stated that he is pleased with the trial of Robert Dyas concessions in Somerfield stores. 1 Sept 2006 - Reiss plans to open an international headquarters in London. They are also beginning an aggressive expansion programme in the UK and Ireland that will increase its store count by 20 over the next financial year. 1 Sept 2006 - Ken McCulloch's first Columbus hotel in the UK has been delayed by more than a year. It was due to open at Brooklands racing circuit in Weybridge, Surrey, this month and is now due to open at the end of 2007. AUGUST 2006 29 Aug 2006 - Strada's owner, Richard Caring plans to open up to 250 restaurants over the next 3 years. 29 Aug 2006 - La Tasca Group are opening 2 restaurants next month, one in London and one in Cheltenham. 29 Aug 2006 - Nando's have plans for expansion. They plan to open 25 sites before the end of the year. 26 Aug 2006 - Signature Brands aim to expand the number of standalone stores for its Paul Costelloe brand. 26 Aug 2006 - Comptoir de Cotonniers will open 2 London shops before the end of the year as part of plans to open up to 40 stores in the UK over the next 5 years. 26 Aug 2006 - Hawes & Curtis have just opened its largest store in Jermyn Street, London. Touker Suleyman, owner, plans to add 7 more this year and that he hoped to reach a target of 40 shops by the end of 2007. 25 Aug 2006 - Internacionale is stepping up the expansion of its Au Naturale brand, with plans to open a further 15 stores before March next year. 25 Aug 2006 - House of Fraser has been bought by Baugur. They have acquired the 61-store chain for £351m. 25 Aug 2006 - Singapore Sam went into administration last month. Its 28-strong kiosk network and head office on Finchley Road, London are up for sale. 25 Aug 2006 - Aftershock has gone into liquidation. 4 of the chain's 8 stores in Kings Road, South Molton Street and Bayswater in London, and in Liverpool are still trading, but are up for sale. The rest of the stores in Milton Keynes, Covent Garden, Bromley and Kingston will close and leases are expected to be handed back to creditors. 25 Aug 2006 - Bravissimo has acquired a further 2 stores in London and Chester, while it steps up its expansion across the UK and Ireland. They have targeted cities such as Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Guildford and Norwich. 25 Aug 2006 - Du Pareil au Meme will open its first UK store later this year at Lakeside shopping centre in Essex. They aim to open 20 stores across the UK within the next 5 years. 25 Aug 2006 - The Works has acquired 6 stores from Clinton Cards. The deal will help The Works fulfil its aim of opening 30 stores a year, with its long-term plan to have 400 outlets by 2011. The sites in Horsham, Sutton, Monmouth, Penzance, Huntingdon and Stirling will be trading as The Works by the end of the month. 24 Aug 2006 - Black & Blue opened its 5th restaurant this month, in Borough Market, London and has plans to open its 6th branch in Chiswick next year. They are also looking at sites in Canary Wharf and Spitalfields. 24 Aug 2006 - Gordon Ramsey was expected to unveil plans to open a chain of country pubs this week. 23 Aug 2006 - Matalan's chairman, John Hargreaves has made an informal offer of £817m to take private the clothing chain he founded 2 decades ago. 22 Aug 2006 - Itsu are to more than double its number of restaurants in the UK. They plan to add 5 to 7 venues a year. 20 Aug 2006 - Accantia have just opened the first of its treatment centres in Covent Garden. Geoff Percy, chief executive, plans to build a chain of 25 to 30 spas. 19 Aug 2006 - Trespass is to open its first London stores as part of an aggressive expansion plan. It will open a 6,000 sq ft shop in Oxford Street and a further store in Covent Garden next month. Other stores will open over the next few weeks in Bristol, Norwich, Brighton, Manchester, Cheltenham, Stratford-upon-Avon, Taunton, Basingstoke, Crawley and Torquay. 19 Aug 2006 - Bratz will open its largest store next month at the Arndale Centre and plans to open more large stores in prime locations. 19 Aug 2006 - Travelodge are selling its chain to Dubai International Capital for £675m. They plan an aggressive expansion of Travelodge sites in the UK that would see the total double by 2010. 19 Aug 2006 - Carluccio's is set to expand from its 27 stores to more than 80 in the next 10 years. 19 Aug 2006 - Aftershock is to close half of its shops in the UK this autumn. 6 of its 12 stores are due to close in locations including Milton Keynes, Covent Garden and Bromley. 19 Aug 2006 - Pavers are opening 6 stores by the end of the year. 19 Aug 2006 - Somerfield is to close 27 stores. The closures are believed to be at former Kwik Save stores that were converted to Somerfield earlier this year. All the stores are to shut on or before 21 October. 19 Aug 2006 - Blue Blood is on the hunt for its first UK store in London. 18 Aug 2006 - TM Lewin have expanded its store portfolio by 16 over the past 12 months. They have a store in Newcastle scheduled to launch at the end of the month and a further 2 stores might follow later this year. 18 Aug 2006 - Asda is to open a second-generation George store in Southend in October. 18 Aug 2006 - Julian Graves is to target garden centres and department stores to expand its concession business. They have launched 36 outlets since April and aims to open 50 new stores by next March. 18 Aug 2006 - Beales have revealed plans to increase its store portfolio from 12 to 20. They are looking for sites in seaside and market towns. 15 Aug 2006 - Enterprise Inns are selling 769 of its smaller and more vulnerable pubs to Admiral Taverns for £316.6m. 13 Aug 2006 - Living Ventures are selling its Living Room chain which has 13 sites. They have hired Deloitte to find a buyer for the chain. 12 Aug 2006 - Cook have opened its 19th store in Weybridge and have introduced a new-look fascia. 12 Aug 2006 - Aldi is planning to spend £200m developing 150 new stores across Scotland. Aldi's managing director for Scotland, has said they are trying to open as many stores in Scotland as possible. They have 2 opening this year in Hamilton and Oban and in the following years they are planning to open 10 to 15 stores. 12 Aug 2006 - Daniel Footwear plans to open 5 more stores in 2007. 12 Aug 2006 - Steve Madden is to launch in the UK within the next 2 years. He hopes to open up to 10 stores in the UK, starting with locations in London. 12 Aug 2006 - Southern Co-operattive group have bought out the 14 stores belonging to Greenstead Development and RNS Partnership. The shops are located in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Cornwall, with completion for the takeover scheduled for the end of September. At present 11 of the stores trade as Spar and 3 as Nisa. 12 Aug 2006 - Marks and Spencer is to open its 15th store in the Republic of Ireland. 12 Aug 2006 - The Original Factory Shop could expand to 200 stores in the UK following a raft of new openings this year. They will open 5 more stores by January in Halstead, Market Deeping, Royston, Holsworthy and Warminster. 11 Aug 2006 - Raspberry Village wants to triple its store portfolio in the next 12 months. They will be searching for sites in the south in areas such as Norwich, Peterborough, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Ipswich and Oxford. 11 Aug 2006 - Boss Orange have just opened its first store on Carnaby Street, London last week. 11 Aug 2006 - Hawkshead have been bought out of administration by Vertical Acquisitions. Hawkshead Retail and its parent company Daffodil Holdings went into administration on Friday and were purchased on the same day. 11 Aug 2006 - Mountain Warehouse is to open 2 stores within the next month at Freeport outlet villages. 11 Aug 2006 - Slater Menswear is searching for up to 30 stores south of the border. They have pinpointed ten locations on which to concentrate its search, Brighton, Bristol, Bromley, Cambridge, Guildford, Kingston upon Thames, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading and Southampton. 11 Aug 2006 - Land of Leather has doubled its rate of store openings and is on track to beat its expansion target for the new financial year. They have opened 10 stores in 17 weeks. 11 Aug 2006 - Debenhams have acquired 9 Roche department stores for £19.6m. 11 Aug 2006 - Dreams aims to open up to 15 stores this year, to increase its store count from 120 to 130. 11 Aug 2006 - Sniff are searching for stores in Covent Garden and King's Road in London, and other sites in Brighton, Leeds and Nottingham. They hope to open 4 or 5 stores in the next 3 years. 10 Aug 2006 - Gaucho Grill have been bought by private equity company Phoenix Equity Partners for £55m. Zeev Godik, chief executive said they have 2 new London sites in the pipeline for the start of next year and would be keen to expand throughout the UK into larger cities. 10 Aug 2006 - Young & Co has sold its historic Ram brewery site in Wandsworth to Minerva for £69m. Since the start of the financial year they have acquired 10 new sites, with 3 more to complete this week. 10 Aug 2006 - Paramount Restaurants is to roll out its Chez Gerard brand by converting a dozen of the 53 Caffe Uno restaurants it acquired last year. 10 Aug 2006 - City Inn are to open 3 new hotels in the UK in London, Leeds and Manchester. They are due to open next year. 8 Aug 2006 - Greggs have axed 14 Bakers Oven shops in northern England and Scotland. 8 Aug 2006 - Regent Inns have acquired Old Orleans from Punch Taverns for £26m. This will add 31 restaurants to its existing portfolio of Walkabout bars and Jongleurs comedy clubs. 5 Aug 2006 - Ghost will expand its retail portfolio from 4 stores and 14 concessions. 3 concessions will open by the end of the month and at least 1 store by the end of the year. In 2007 it is targeting 12 new concessions and 8 standalones, with 50 UK outlets planned in total. 5 Aug 2006 - Mackays have bought south west department store Worthingtons. They had two stores in Bristol and Gloucestershire. 5 Aug 2006 - Sainsbury's picked up 4 stores from Somerfield this week and is also due to open a newly acquired 20,000 sq ft Safeway/Morrisons store in Crystal Palace. 5 Aug 2006 - QS Discount will open 2 more shops this autumn in Warrington and Blackburn. They also plan to open up to 5 more stores in the next 2 years. 5 Aug 2006 - Owen Owen has raised £7.5m by selling the freehold on one of the two stores. 5 Aug 2006 - Chessmen will open 2 standalone stores this September. 5 Aug 2006 - Basler has opened its second franchise store in central London. 5 Aug 2006 - Fila is planning to open 40 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland over the next 3 years. Between 4 and 6 stores are planned in the next 2 years. 4 Aug 2006 - Powerhouse went into administration on Wednesday after its owner PRG pulled the plug on the chain. Administrator BDO Stoy Hayward shut all 50 stores. 4 Aug 2006 - Bik Bok are expanding to 15 stores over the next 3 years at prime fashion locations in the UK. 4 Aug 2006 - Hutchinson 3G will unveil standalone stores under its Three store fascia and 4 stores are set to open this year. 4 Aug 2006 - Wrangler is to open up to 16 stores in the UK. They are looking to open 3 to 4 stores a year over the next 3 to 4 years. 4 Aug 2006 - Topps Tiles are planning to expand to 350 stores in the medium-term, but in the long-term, that figure could be more like 450, with potential for 150 Tile Clearing House outlets. They are opening 17 TCH stores stores this year. 4 Aug 2006 - Links of London has been acquired by rival chain Folli Follie for £45m. John Ayton and Annoushka Ducas, founders, have sold the 45-store business to Folli Follie's parent group Hellenic Duty Free Shops. 4 Aug 2006 - Symington's launched a new brand last week, Red with its first store. 4 Aug 2006 - Debenhams may be acquiring 9 of Roches 11 stores. 3 Aug 2006 - Bank Restaurant Group plans to double the size of its newest acquisition, Zinc Bar & Grill, within the next year. First in the pipeline is a new site in Manchester's Trafford Centre in September, which will be followed by new high street locations across the UK. They are also looking to add 2 or 3 Bank restaurants to its current trio of sites within the next 18 months. 3 Aug 2006 - Myhotels is planning to open its fourth UK site in Brighton and is due to open in September next year. 3 Aug 2006 - Apostrophe is opening 3 new London branches this year. Managing director, Amir Chen hopes to open a 10th cafe in Mayfair by the end of this year. He believes London can support 30 or so branches. 3 Aug 2006 - Tragus Holdings is to convert the Leadenhall Wine and Tapas Bar in London into its second Spanish tapas restaurant and bar, Ortega. A third site in London is also likely to be a conversion of one of the group's existing high-street eateries. It is planning a fourth pilot site before assessing Ortega's performance, to see if it can be rolled out as its third national brand. 2 Aug 2006 - Woolworths is to open standalone Ladybird stores in the UK and believes there is potential for 50 outlets over the next 5 years if the initial stores do well. 1 Aug 2006 - Coppernob's owner Gifi Fields, will open womenswear shop-in-shops and stores of his own. He intends to build a nationwide chain under the Coppernob brand. The first branch is scheduled to open in Debenhams Oxford Street store in October. Another 5 outlets are already planned, and Fields is in discussions with landlords to find suitable standalone premises. 1 Aug 2006 - Smile Stores plan to pass the 100-store barrier before 2007. 1 Aug 2006 - Ghost is to open 30 stores within the next 3 years. They plan to look for 10 stores a year for 3 years. 1 Aug 2006 - Build-A-Bear is to move into retail outlets at zoos and Premiership football clubs as it gears up to open 75 UK outlets on the medium-term. They believe it can expand to become a chain of well over 100 UK stores in the next 5 years. 1 Aug 2006 - Speciality Retail Group have racked up losses before tax of £58,000 in the financial year to January, compared with a £3.3 million profit the previous year. They plan to dispose of a number of underperforming stores. 1 Aug 2006 - Focus have showrooms in 18 of its stores and are preparing to roll the format out to half of its estate. 1 Aug 2006 - Lovejuice's managing director, John Heseltine believes they have the potential to open 150 stores in the UK. JULY 2006 29 July 2006 - Adams Kids will open 10 stores and concessions by October. They will open 4 stores in Feltham, Kings Lynn, Huyton and Widnes in the next 3 months. Adams Kids will also roll out its new store format to 30 of its 325 stores by the end of the year. 29 July 2006 - The Mackays name will disappear from the high street by next March, as they are planning to rebrand its 268 stores as M & CO. M & Co plans to open up to 30 more by the end of February. These will include Kidlington, Welwyn Garden City, Deal, Chipping Sodbury and Blairgowrie. 29 July 2006 - Coppernob have plans for up to 100 own-brand stores and concessions. They will open their first concession in Debenhams on London's Oxford Street in October. 29 July 2006 - Woolworths is to bring its Ladybird standalone format to the UK with the potential for up to 50 stores across the country. 29 July 2006 - Monsoon are expected to open about 15 stores this year and they are also opening a new 23,000 sq ft distribution centre. 29 July 2006 - Phase Eight are opening 4 stores this autumn and 12 are planned next year. 29 July 2006 - Bank are searching for out-of-town locations in London, Oxford, Leicester, Cheltenham and Bristol. More in-town stores are due to open in Oldham, Doncaster, Bristol, Dundee, Coventry, Burton-upon-Trent and Wakefield. 29 July 2006 - Tommy Hilfiger will open a 5,400 sq ft flagship on London's Regent Street, followed by 2 to 3 company-owned stores a year in the UK over the next 5 years. 29 July 2006 - Richard James will open its second store next year on London's Clifford Street. 29 July 2006 - Ping Pong have stated they will have 10 stores by the end of this year. 27 July 2006 - Folli Follie are buying the Links of London chain for nearly £30m. 28 July 2006 - Reiss is to ramp up its UK and Ireland expansion drive with 20 locations pinpointed for the next financial year. They are seeking outlets in locations such as Windsor, Tunbridge Wells, St Albans, Southampton, Oxford, Metro Centre in Gateshead, Leicester, Cheltenham, Dundrum shopping centre in Dublin, Bath, Belfast and Bournemouth. In London, they are considering units in Marylebone High Street, Westbourne Grove, Spitalfields, Chiswick and Brent Cross. They will expand to 57 stores by next January, and are also opening an accessories-only store in Islington, London later this year. A chain could follow. 28 July 2006 - Blue Inc are opening 5 new stores and are due to open before christmas, including one in Feltham. 28 July 2006 - G-Star is opening its first store in London next month. The site is in Seven Dials, Covent Garden. They plan to open another standalone UK outlet in Birmingham before Christmas. 28 July 2006 - Magnet is to spend more than £27m on refurbishing its entire 170 store estate. 28 July 2006 - Music Zone plan to open a further 10 stores this year. 28 July 2006 - Morrisons have plans to dispose of all large stores in upmarket areas and sell off stores of less than 25,000 sq ft, which means disposing of 147 small stores. 28 July 2006 - Blockbuster is attempting to sell its Gamestation chain. 27 July 2006 - Mother Mash are to open a 785 sq ft restaurant in Ganton Street, London. Ewan Ferguson, plans to open as many as 5 Mother Mash restaurants in London over the next 6 years. 22 July 2006 - CWF is to launch multi-brand stores called Younly onto the UK high street next year. They plan to open 7 stores in the next 3 years. The first store is likely to be in London and will measure between 1,000 sq ft and 1,300 sq ft. 22 July 2006 - Robert De Keyser has rebranded his store at Bicester in Oxfordshire as Rock Couture and intends to open 4 more outlets. 22 July 2006 - The John David Group taking 14 Hargreaves shops from Sports World at Airports. They are finalising a deal to take on 5 Hargreaves shops, 5 Nike franchise stores, 2 Quiksilver franchise shops and 2 Beach Party stores. This gives the John David Group retail locations at Gatwick north and south terminals, Stansted north and south terminals and Heathrow terminals 1,3 and 4. They are expected to convert the stores to the JD fascia. 22 July 2006 - Fenn Wright Manson are opening standalone stores in the Home Counties or Greater London area. Chairman, Colin Fenn said that they could happily open 5 or 6 stores a year of approximately 1,000 sq ft. 22 July 2006 - Brantano has been put up for sale. 22 July 2006 - Shutopia (Stylo) are opening stores in Rotherham at Parkgate and Belfast's City Square this year. 22 July 2006 - Stead & Simpson are planning 40 refits for next spring. 22 July 2006 - American Apparel is set to open stores across the UK. They are searching for up to 4 more company-owned stores in the capital and up to 20 in major UK cities. 22 July 2006 - Westgate Department Store have bought 7 stores from the Co-operative Group. They will take control of the first store, in Skegness in Lincolnshire, this month. 22 July 2006 - Simon Carter are searching for a company-owned store in London. 21 July 2006 - Urban Golf will open its second London club next month. The venue is in Smithfield Street, London. 15 July 2006 - Pilgrim is seeking a UK flagship store. 15 July 2006 - Heatons will open 5 more shops this year. They will open in Drogheda, Carrick-on-Shannon and Killarney in the Republic of Ireland, and Armagh and Belfast in Northern Ireland, as part of an aggressive expansion plan that saw it open 12 shops last year. 15 July 2006 - Budgens are still planning to become a pure franchise operator by 2008. This year they have sold 28 of the 131 it had in January and has 26 scheduled for completion by October. 15 July 2006 - Moda in Pelle has bought Solution out of administration. Stephen Buck, owner of Moda in Pelle plans to launch the chain in the south. 15 July 2006 - JJB Sports will axe its 23-strong Icon chain. 15 July 2006 - Liz Claiborne is launching accessories retailer Monet & Co and store openings for jeanswear label Lucky Brand. Lucky Brand is poised to open 2 company-owned stores, in Carnaby Street and Covent Garden in London, early next year. 15 July 2006 - Mikey has been rescued by former New Look director Alan Wood as part of a team. He heads a consortium that has bought the business from administrators at Tenon Recovery. A new company called Amaranth Accessories has taken on 7 of the 15 Mikey standalone stores, including shops in Bluewater, Liverpool's Metquarter and London's King's Road. The remainder have been closed by administrators. 15 July 2006 - Benjys went into administration this week with Deloitte being the administrators. However, an hour later Benjy's was under new ownership. Hamilton Bradshaw, a private equity company, has bought it out of administration for an undisclosed sum. 15 July 2006 - Gondola plan to launch a new chain of restaurants and wants to develop a fourth brand that can be rolled out across the country. They have 2 pilots for an upmarket pizza delivery chain operating under the Lupa brand and is looking for more sites. 15 July 2006 - La Senza has been sold to Lion Capital in a deal worth an estimated £100m. 15 July 2006 - Fossil is planning to add 30 UK stores to its 3 shops over the next 5 years. 15 July 2006 - Reminiscence made its UK debut in London's King's Road in January. 15 July 2006 - Claire's Accessories has just signed 6 stores of up to 1,265 sq ft in Manchester, Grimsby, Hinckley, St Albans, West Bromwich and Huddersfield. 14 July 2006 - Aldo has taken a unit in Commercial Street, Leeds. 14 July 2006 - Billabong has taken its second standalone store in the UK at Drake Circus shopping centre in Plymouth. 14 July 2006 - Moss Bross Group is revealing a new storefit for its Moss store in Cardiff in November. They are planning to roll it out across the Moss portfolio. Moss plans to add 80 stores over the next 5 years. 14 July 2006 - Pets at Home are scheduled to open 15 stores over the year to March. They expect the 190-store chain to expand to 350 stores within the next 5 to 6 years. 14 July 2006 - The Perfume Shop has unveiled a new London flagship and is starting an aggressive expansion drive this year. They are planning to open at least 20 stores in the next 12 months. The flagship is located on London's Oxford Street. 14 July 2006 - Bik Bok are to open its second UK store at Lakeside shopping centre in Essex this autumn. 14 July 2006 - PerfectHome opened its first store in Birkenhead last week as part of a plan to move into retailing with a target of 20 stores by the end of this year. 14 July 2006 - Virgin Mobile will open its first standalone store this month as it gears up to create a nationwide chain. They will unveil a 1,400 sq ft flagship at Lakeside in Essex later this month, before opening 2 more UK outlets. 13 July 2006 - Seabass has opened a restaurant in Paddington Central. Sarkis Kay, founder plans to unveil a third unit in Fulham in December or January, and then 3 or 4 new seabass restaurants a year in London for 3 years. 13 July 2006 - Room Restaurants is to open its first London eaterie this September. 13 July 2006 - Rankin Cafe franchisee has opened its first doors in Bangor, County Down. 12 July 2006 - Marks and Spencer has pinpointed new areas of growth. Stuart Rose, chief executive has stated that Simply Food stores could be in up to 300 BP petrol forecourts nationwide. 11 July 2006 - Tasty plan to open 6 more Dim T restaurants by Dec 2007. Sam and Adam Kaye, founders of the Ask and Zizzi pizza outlets and directors for Tasty have stated they have ambitious plans for the Dim T chain of dim sum restaurants. Dim T will trade under the banner of Tasty once listed and is opening a 4th restaurant in Tunbridge Wells in July and plans to have 6 units operating by the end of the year. 10 July 2006 - Pets at Home was bought out 2 years ago in a £230m deal backed by Private equity group Bridgepoint. They are planning to open 18 stores in the next financial year. 9 July 2006 - De Vere has been acquired by Richard Balfour-Lynn for £767m. He plans to split the property assets from the operating company in a bid to release more value. He plans up to 10 sites will be developed and has put aside £25m for each. 9 July 2006 - Next are planning to open a standalone store for Lime later this year. The Lime store will open in an existing Next outlet in the north of England in the next 5 months. 8 July 2006 - Marc Jacobs first UK shop will open on Mount Street in London's Mayfair in October. They are also believed to be planning a second London store. 8 July 2006 - Morgan is planning a rescue deal to take over its previously licensed UK operations. Licensee Barry Prince & Co went into administration last week, prompting KPMG to close company owned stores. 8 July 2006 - Roches Stores is understood to be in talks to sell its retail business to Debenhams. The Roche family want to retain the 11-store property portfolio and lease the space to Debenhams. 7 July 2006 - Holland and Barrett is planning to expand aggressively in the next 3 years, opening 150 outlets to take store numbers to 650. 7 July 2006 - Blend will take its first UK store at Prudential's Arndale Centre in Manchester. They plan to roll-out to 4 other locations in the north west this year. Blend also have further stores in the pipeline for Chester, Liverpool and Warrington, with a roll-out plan to acquire 30 stores throughout the UK in the next 5 years. 7 July 2006 - Robert Dyas will open shop-in-shops in 3 Somerfield stores in an initial 6-month trial before committing to a full scale roll-out next year. Somerfield has highlighted 100 stores that they could go into. The deal could allow Robert Dyas to more than double its existing portfolio of 95 stores. The first shop-in-shop will open in Somerfield's outlet at Rayleigh, Essex. 7 July 2006 - Robinson Webster has opened a mini department store called The Shop at Bluebird on London's King's Road. He has also bought a business called Cabbages & Roses which has 1 store in London and is due to open a second store in Wandsworth, south west London next month. 7 July 2006 - EX Stores has been bought by Hilco for an estimated £5m. 7 July 2006 - Tesco is to open a further 130 Express stores this year. 7 July 2006 - Powerhouse are set to change its name to Go Switch On. 4 stores have been rebranded Go Switch On in a 6 week trial before roll-out. They plan to convert the entire 53-store chain by November. 7 July 2006 - Dolcis is set to change hands after its owner Alexon Group, decided to offload the loss-making chain. Alexon has hired Hawkpoint to oversee the sale of Dolcis. 7 July 2006 - HBOS has expressed interest in buying a number of Woolwich branches that may be closed by Barclays. They have approached Barclays with a list of 40 sites, mainly in the south, which it might be interested in buying. 6 July 2006 - Blooms of Bressingham has stated that revenue dropped 1.9% in the 22 weeks to July 2. But the sales figures were based on only 4 of its 10 centres due to the redevelopment or refurbishment of 4 stores and the acquisition of 2. They said plans to open its largest garden centre at Bicester next spring were on track. 6 July 2006 - Topps Tiles was on target to open 24 stores by the end of its financial year in September, taking the total above 260. It has a national target of 400 stores. 5 July 2006 - La Tasca opened 14 outlets last year catering for 3 different niches: La Tasca tapas bars, La Vina and Sam & Maxie's. La Tasca plans a similar number of openings for the second half of the current trading year. 5 July 2006 - Greene King are acquiring Hardys and Hansons for £270m. They also acquired Belhaven in October and Ridley's of Essex last July. 5 July 2006 - Rank has put its Hard Rock Cafe chain up for sale in a move that could see private equity companies pay up to £500m for the business. 4 July 2006 - Floors 2 Go plan to open up to 7 new stores before the end of year. 2 July 2006 - HMV's new trial store format, could be expanded nationally. 1 July 2006 - Criminal is transferring its head office from Bournemouth to its Covent Garden store in October. 1 July 2006 - Almost famous has snapped up its first UK shop and is on the lookout for retail franchise partners. The 3,000 sq ft site will open on London's Percy Street at the beginning of September. 1 July 2006 - Roulette is to open its second store. David Cullen, owner plans to open a store on the UK mainland next year. 1 July 2006 - Pinko have 5 flagship stores planned for the UK and are hunting for a 2nd store in central London. Riccardo Gaggero, country manager is planning to open up to 25 franchise stores of between 650 sq ft and 1,300 sq ft over the next 2 to 3 years. 1 July 2006 - Guess has launched a new store concept that will make its UK debut in Liverpool and Manchester in September. The stores are in Liverpool's Met Quarter and St Anne's Square in Manchester. They also aim to open more branches in London and will be refurbishing its existing Covent Garden flagship next February. Guess aim to double its presence in the UK and Republic of Ireland. 1 July 2006 - Mulberry is hunting for further standalone openings in the UK. Four more concessions are expected to open in House of Fraser stores in August. 1 July 2006 - Nike has closed 4 of its UK stores after the sports giant's only UK franchise partner went into administration. The Nike stores, in Manchester, Southampton, Croydon and the Bullring in Birmingham, were run by Planmark Developments and headed by Paul Fenolon. They have now been closed by administrator Daniel Rubin & Partners. 1 July 2006 - Hoopers snapped up its 6th store with Bulloughs of Carlisle. Allan Allkins, chief executive said they have the head office structure in place for 20 stores and will be looking to open more stores next year. 1 July 2006 - Vue Entertainment has put its flagship cinema in London's Leicester Square up for sale. They are selling a portfolio of 6 cinemas in Accrington, Bury, Cambridge, Doncaster, York and London. JUNE 2006 30 June 2006 - Carpetright aims to have 450 stores in the UK and Ireland. They currently have 418. 30 June 2006 - Screwfix Direct plans to set up a further 15 trade counters next year. They planned to open 15 stores this financial year and has now pledged to match that number next year. 30 June 2006 - The Co-operative Group is to sell 7 of its department stores to Anglia Regional Co-operative Society. Anglia will take control of the stores between now and September, beginning with Skegness, Bishop Auckland and Blyth followed by Mansfield, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Hoddesdon and Leighton Buzzard. 30 June 2006 - Mamas and Papas plans to open 3 more stores this year. 30 June 2006 - Sports World has opened 2 stores under the fascia Sports Direct.com. While this is an experiment, further stores bearing the branding would be revealed later this year. The first store fascia opened last week at a former Littlewoods site in Harrogate and the second opened at The Centre in Feltham, southwest London, on Monday. 30 June 2006 - The Works are buying 13 Bookends stores. The chain wants to increase its stores to 400 in the next 5 years. 30 June 2006 - Morgan Retail has gone into administration. KPMG Restructuring has taken control of them, after the French parent withdrew its support. They have 19 stand-alone stores and 47 department store concessions which will soon be closing. 30 June 2006 - O'Briens plan to open 50 to 60 stores a year in the UK and Ireland. 30 June 2006 - Wilkinson plans to open 20 more outlets this year. 30 June 2006 - HSBC is to spend £400m opening more than 200 retail banking outlets across the UK by the end of the year. They plan to open 5 mega stores of 35,000 sq ft and a further 200 high street branches, as well as refitting 200 of its existing 1,500 branches. 30 June 2006 - Next is set to challenge Primark on the high street with a value chain called Lime. They are trialling several Lime stores and are also experimenting with expanding the Lime brand into a high street chain. Next plan to run its 80 clearance stores under this brand. 29 June 2006 - Brooks Brothers wants to open at least one airport store in its first phase of UK openings and is in talks with BAA for a site at Terminal 5. 29 June 2006 - Reiss is opening its first airport store in the next few weeks at Heathrow Terminal 3. 29 June 2006 - Robert Ashworth are planning a roll-out of stores by its owner Collections Group. 29 June 2006 - Fat Face will open 17 stores by the end of the year. The store openings will increase Fat Face's presence in Scotland, with shops in Glasgow and Perth debuting in the next 2 weeks. They will also relocate stores in Cardiff and Nottingham to larger units. Shops in Plymouth, Putney and Burnham Wood in Berkshire have all opened in the past 6 weeks. 29 June 2006 - Fornarina opening its first UK store on London's Carnaby Street. The unit opened in the former Base London Shop. 29 June 2006 - Sequels is hunting for franchise partners for a national roll-out of its concept. It plans to roll out 5 stores by the end of the year. Potential for up to 60 stores, in towns such as Tunbridge Wells and Chorley. 29 June 2006 - Giraffe plans to expand the chain across the UK with up to 30 new openings by the end of 2009. They are based in London but is opening in Manchester's Trafford Centre this Autumn. 3 new sites will open this autumn in Milton Keynes, Walton-on-Thames and Bloomsbury in London. Exeter and Cambridge are due to open in 2007. 29 June 2006 - Outback Steakhouse is to focus its future expansion on the burgeoning leisure park market. They opened their 6th outlet at a leisure park in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.. 28 June 2006 - Whitbread are looking to expand its Costa Coffee chain and its Premier Travel Inn hotels division. Costa Coffee is expanding with 46 new openings. Premier Travel Inn opened 1,133 rooms in the first quarter; the company has a target of 45,000 rooms by 2010. Whitbread is planning to sell all its pubs not attached to a Premier Travel Inn. Analysts reckon its 258 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pubs should sell for at least £430m by the end of 2006. 28 June 2006 - Matalan's founder and chairman, John Hargreaves is considering selling the 190-store chain, but will do so only at the right price. 28 June 2006 - Dobbies Garden Centres are continuing its expansion with openings in commuter towns such as Milton Keynes. The expansion is likely to bring them into increased competition with Wyevale Garden Centres. 28 June 2006 - Clapham House Group will open 10 more Gourmet Burger Kitchens in its current financial year. Five other sites are also planned, including a new Bombay Bicycle Club in East Dulwich, south London, and a Tootsies at Brent Cross Shopping centre in North-west London. Aim to add 35 restaurants to the group within the next few years. 28 June 2006 - La Tasca is to open its second UK Sam and Maxie's site in Manchester's Trafford Centre next month. 28 June 2006 - Living Ventures is expanding its Bar & Grill brand across the country. Converting Est Est Est sites in Manchester and Chester into Bar and Grill-branded outlets. Following the successful launch of its Hale Grill in South Manchester and The Grill in London, Grill on the Alley will launch in Manchester at the end of July and Newgate Grill will open in Chester in October. 28 June 2006 - Hotel du Vin has acquired new sites in Edinburgh and Newcastle. They are still transforming historic sites into hotels. The 47-bedroom Edinburgh property was originally part of the city's Royal Infirmary hospital and is due to open in early 2008. Looking for properties in Aberdeen and St Andrews. They also acquired One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow for £9m. 28 June 2006 - Greene King have acquired Hardy & Hansons for £270m. Hardy & Hansons owns 268 managed and tenanted pubs. 28 June 2006 - New Look's overall space grew by 0.3m sq ft to 2.5m sq ft. They acquired 35 stores from Littlewoods, which, together with new openings, should add around 0.8m sq ft this year. 27 June 2006 - Halfords has unveiled plans for expansion into eastern Europe. They opened 18 new stores in the UK last year. 27 June 2006 - MFI had a second-round auction of its business last week. They put the unit up for sale after it fell into a loss last year of about £85m. 27 June 2006 - Baugur have made a cash bid of £350m for House of Fraser. 27 June 2006 - Majestic Wine opened new stores in Sanderstead, Tunbridge Wells, Derby, Berkhamsted, Stow-on-the-Wold and Stirling. This year they expect to open more stores and will be opening two more stores in Bicester and East Molesey. 27 June 2006 - Whole Foods Market have about 30 sites lined up in the UK for new stores as it prepares for the opening of its flagship store next year at the old Barkers department store in Kensington, London. 27 June 2006 - Sweaty Betty are opening five more stores this year. They are due to open a shop in Cambridge next month, with 4 more openings planned by the end of the year. 27 June 2006 - Criminal plans to open more stores across the UK and Europe. Seeking store locations in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. 26 June 2006 - QS is preparing to open its first stores since its rescue from administration. It is planning 3 stores in the autumn before kicking off a refurbishment programme. 26 June 2006 - H&M is understood to be lining up a new concept to launch at a second location on London's Regent Street. They have all but signed its first store on the street in the redevelopment of the former Dickins & Jones shop. 26 June 2006 - USC has sent out a list of 10 stores it wants to sell in Croydon, Reading, Maidstone, Bournemouth, Preston, Gloucester, Poole, Hanley, Southport and Scunthorpe. 26 June 2006 - Brooks Brothers are preparing for the autumn launch of its new 9,500 sq ft flagship store in Regent Street. They plan for a national chain of between 10 and 12 stores in major UK cities in the next 3 to 5 years 26 June 2006 - Scoop NYC is to open their first store in the UK in the next 18 months. 25 June 2006 - Kurt Geiger opened 4 new stores over the year. In August they are opening a new flagship store on Regent Street. Neil Clifford, chief executive has identified 20 locations in which to open stores over the next 4 years. 24 June 2006 - The owners of Moda in Pelle have rescued Peters of Huddersfield from administration for nearly £500,000. 24 June 2006 - Reiss are planning to open about 10 more stores this year in the UK. 24 June 2006 - Jaeger has opened 2 stores, with 2 more for July. Stores in Brighton and Cardiff opened this month, while stores in Knutsford and Market Harborough in Leicestershire will open next month. 24 June 2006 - Peppermint has signed for its 3rd store in Kingston Upon Thames. 24 June 2006 - Marlies Dekkers is seeking its first UK store in London. 23 June 2006 - Score is to make its UK debut with a store in Manchester city centre ahead of a nationwide roll-out. They plan for a chain of up to 60 for its formats, Score and Chasin' Denim, in the UK. 23 June 2006 - Harrods is tipped to open a 12,000 sq ft store at Heathrow's Terminal 5 development. 23 June 2006 - Borders will open its 37th UK superstore at Talbot Green Retail Park at Llantrisant, south Wales. They will also open superstores in Newbury, Southampton, Milton Keynes and Cardiff this autumn. 23 June 2006 - Llva opens its first UK store at Lakeside, Thurrock, on July 28. 23 June 2006 - Instore plans to convert 20 Poundstretcher stores to the Instore Fascia and open a further 20 stores. 23 June 2006 - Whole Foods Market are looking for stores in central London and other UK cities, such as Birmingham and Manchester. One possible site thought to be under consideration is The Mailbox in Birmingham, which will undergo an extension to be completed by 2008. 23 June 2006 - The Body Shop is hunting for a further 15 sites this year. They are looking for suitable sites across the UK in areas where The Body Shop does not already have a presence. The search will target affluent areas, including London suburbs. It is believed they have earmarked a site in Enfield and another 6 undisclosed locations. 23 June 2006 - OKA will open its 3rd London outlet in Sloane Avenue, Chelsea this summer. They also plan to increase its presence on the high street by opening 2 stores a year and they are relocating its Fulham store to larger premises in the same area. 23 June 2006 - Fat Face opened a store in Byers Road, Glasgow last week and plans to open 25 stores this year. 23 June 2006 - Silverscreen have failed to find a buyer for any of the chain's 65 stores and have shut all the outlets. 23 June 2006 - M & S is to roll out serviced men's shoe departments across its portfolio. The format will open in 35 stores by the end of April next year. 23 June 2006 - Storey Carpets has revealed a store expansion programme and aims to open about 10 stores in Lancashre and Yorkshire in the next 12 months. 23 June 2006 - O2 have acquired The Link for £30m. 23 June 2006 - Oil & Vinegar and Ex-Cellar are joining forces to start up a new chain. Non-executive Roger Peddar, has stated that the first store will open at Salisbury in Wiltshire in late summer, with 20 more planned for future roll-out. 23 June 2006 - Rosebys is to be snapped up by Indian textile giant GHCL in a £27.1m deal as private equity backer Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC) sells the home furnishings chain. LDC bought 300-store Rosebys and its 40-store sister chain Fabric Warehouse from Homestyle in 2004 for £51m. 23 June 2006 - Harrods is in discussions to open its first small-format department store at Heathrow's Terminal 5. 23 June 2006 - Levi's has opened shops in Liverpool, Norwich, Leeds and York in the past 6 months. 23 June 2006 - 99p Stores plan to open at least 2 new outlets in Birmingham during the next 20 months as part of a major UK expansion. They plan to open a total of 45 more to double its portfolio. 23 June 2006 - Hoss Homeless, the Spanish womenswear chain, plans to enter the UK retail market spring 07. They are looking at Regent Street and King's Road for its first stores. 23 June 2006 - Pret A Manger Co-founder Sinclair Beecham plans to launch a hotel chain in the UK. He has teamed up with hotelier Michael Brooker to launch a chain of design-led, boutique hotels. They initially plan 20. 23 June 2006 - Courtyard Hotels, owned by Marriott Hotels is in exclusive talks with 10 developers to build 50 hotels in the UK and Ireland. They have locations planned in Liverpool, Belfast, Cardiff, Dublin, Edinburgh, Guildford, Manchester, Norwich, York and London. 22 June 2006 - The owners of Jurys Doyle hotel chain are poised to put the 20-strong Jurys Inn chain on the market for an estimated £300m to £350m. 22 June 2006 - Leon's next opening will be before the end of the year on the Strand. They are hoping for as many as 2,000 sites worldwide by 2020 and has identified 300 streets in the UK for a Leon. 22 June 2006 - Ex-Spirit Group chief executive Karen Jones is poised to re-enter the pub market with the purchase of 5 foodie pubs from Punch Taverns. They include the Lots Road Pub & Dining Room in Chelsea, the Prince Regent in Kensington, the Queens in Crouch End and Dusk on Marylebone High Street, all of which already trade as gastropubs. The 5th, The Birdcage in Chiswick, will be converted. Jones has dubbed her new company Food & Fuel and plans to add 2 or 3 sites during the next year. 20 June 2006 - DSG International is poised to sell its majority stake in The Link to O2. This will take O2's chain to 600. 20 June 2006 - Big Yellow is on course to be the first self-storage company to convert into a REIT. 19 June 2006 - Asda has opened its first Asda Living store in Scotland. The store is 23,000 sq ft and is located in Glasgow Fort. It is the 6th Asda Living store to open. 19 June 2006 - Bathstore.com is hunting for 18 stores in Scotland as it aims to double its portfolio to 200 UK stores by August next year. They are looking for units between 2,500 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft (230 sq m and 465 sq m). 19 June 2006 - Virgin Megastores have secured new retail units at sites including Arndale Centre in Manchester, Meadowhall in Sheffield, Glasgow Fort, Dundrum shopping centre in Dublin and Limerick. 19 June 2006 - Peacock Group will spend £15 million rolling out 60 stores across its perfume chain The Fragrance Shop. They also plan to open 30 Peacocks stores in prime locations. 19 June 2006 - Carphone Warehouse will open 250 stores during the next 12 months. They intend to open 60 in the UK and the rest in Europe. 19 June 2006 - Dreams is to enter the furniture market. They also intend to expand geographically and will open stores north of Nottingham next year. 19 June 2006 - Sports World have acquired the 50-strong footwear chain Original Shoe Company. 19 June 2006 - Zara Home chain have opened its debut standalone store on Regents Street last week. 19 June 2006 - Kent & Curwen is owned by Japan's Renown, which also owns Aquascutum, and will open a 1,400 sq ft flagship store on Conduit Street in London in September. 19 June 2006 - New Look could grow from 2.5 million sq ft of UK retail space to between 5.5m sq ft and 6m sq ft, and was looking to open more stores in London and develop its out-of-town portfolio. 16 June 2006 - Empire Direct has bought 6 stores from Miller Brothers administrator, as part of its plan to have 25 UK stores in the medium term. Administrator BDO Stoy Hayward is still trying to secure a buyer for the 13 other Miller Brothers stores. 16 June 2006 - Pepe Jeans are relocating its Carnaby Street store to fill a much larger flagship space. They will also have stores in the north within 3 years. 16 June 2006 - Bestseller Group is understood to be hunting for central London stores for its 14 fashion and accessories brands. The group wants suitable sites on Oxford Street. 16 June 2006 - Hoss Homeless is also searching for its first UK store in central London. It is thought to have earmarked a site on Regent Street, but has yet to sign. 16 June 2006 - Apple is planning to expand its UK flagship store on London's Regent Street by more than a third. They will also open their 7th UK store later this year at the Arndale Centre in Manchester. 16 June 2006 - Penhaligon's is to open 2 London flagship stores with a remodelled shop fit, designed to modernise the brand. The 2 units are on Regent Street and Kings Road. Both will open this summer and introduce the shop fit, which will then roll-out to several other UK stores. They are also looking for stores at Canary Wharf, Marylebone High Street and in Leeds. 16 June 2006 - Halfords is planning to open 2 standalone bike shops under its Bikehut brand, the locations of which are yet to be disclosed. Halfords has also unveiled plans to roll out smaller outlets by opening neighbourhood stores. Ian McLeod, chief executive said their is scope to move from 10 neighbourhood stores to 70 as part of the chain's plans to open 150 new stores in the UK and Ireland over the next 7 to 8 years. They also have 8 stores in the Republic of Ireland and have a target of 20. 16 June 2006 - HBOS is spending £100m to open at least 50 branches. 16 June 2006 - Abbey National is considering opening more than 50 branches. 16 June 2006 - Northern Rock have 72 branches and are planning to open about 4 a year to reach a target of 100. 08 June 2006 - La Tasca are currently opening at a rate of about 14 units a year and probably has the potential for 50 to 100 sites. They also have 14 development sites in the pipeline. La Vina currently have 5 sites and has the potential for 50. 08 June 2006 - Odeon Cinemas have acquired Easy Group's Milton Keynes site. 08 June 2006 - Tiso has acquired bicycle specialist Alpine Bikes. The deal includes 3 standalone shops in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. 08 June 2006 - JD Group will ramp up its store disposal programme this year. Peter Cowgill, chairman has stated that they still have 40-50 shops to offload. 08 June 2006 - Eden Park are on the hunt for more stores. 08 June 2006 - Samsonite has opened its third Samsonite Black Label outlet in London's Sloane Street. 08 June 2006 - EasyHotel are opening 2 more hotels in the next 12 months. The sites are located in Belgrave Road & West Cromwell Road in Central London. 08 June 2006 - The Bread Factory are looking to open more shops. 08 June 2006 - Morgan have just opened a store in York. 08 June 2006 - Jil Sander will open a new London flagship in September. 07 June 2006 - Multitrax Group has announced plans to expand, with the launch of 2 London clubs planned for Jan 07. Further expansion includes 5 additional sites planned for London, which are expected to open in 2008/2009. 07 June 2006 - All Star Lanes opened its first bowling centre in Jan 06. The site is located in Bloomsbury Square, London. 07 June 2006 - Mews of Mayfair have just opened their first restaurant in Lancashire Court. Owners James Robson and Robert Nearn, hope to open 3 more in the next 5 years. 07 June 2006 - Caffe Uno are opening a restaurant at Premier Travel Inn's new Hampstead hotel. 07 June 2006 - Corbin and King are set to open a new restaurant in London's Regent Street. They acquired a long leasehold on the site in an off-market deal from the Pomodorino Group. 07 June 2006 - Gymbox are set to open its second site this October in Covent Garden. A third London site is also being sought. 07 June 2006 - Dakota are planning to eventually have 50 Dakotas in the UK and 100 in the US. Ken McCulloch, founder and owner of the company said they should have 20 Dakotas open in the UK within the next 2-3 years. 06 June 2006 - Natuzzi is to increase its store portfolio in the UK from 2 to more than 15. 06 June 2006 - United Co-operatives has acquired independant pharmacy chain P Williams. The acquisition takes United's number of pharmacies to 230 and plans to have more than 300 within a year. 06 June 2006 - Inditex is scouting locations in London's West End to debut its fascia Pull and Bear in the UK. 06 June 2006 - Build-A-Bear have bought Bear Factory. They are closing 2 of its Bear Factory stores and is converting the remaining 29 stores. They will open 5 more UK stores by the end of the year. 06 June 2006 - Phones 4U plan to expand to 400 stores from 377 stores by September. 06 June 2006 - Expo have opened its first UK store in Brighton. They will also convert four former Athena outlets to the Expo fascia by Christmas, with a view to rolling out 10 to 12 stores a year. By Chrismas, Athena stores in Sutton, Southampton and Hanley will have been converted. The first four UK stores will be company-owned, the group plans to build its portfolio predominantly through franchising. 06 June 2006 - TM Lewin have been bought by their managing director Geoff Quinn for £20m. They have opened 6 stores this year and 6 more are planned in the next 2 months. 06 June 2006 - Poundland have opened its 150th UK store in Northampton. 06 June 2006 - Sussex Stationers is phasing out the word Sussex from its fascia as part of its plan to further expand outside the county. They will rebrand its stores as British Bookshops in an effort to double store numbers from 53 to more than 100 in the next 5 years. They plan to move north of London and into the Southwest. 06 June 2006 - Boundary Mill Stores is on the expansion trail and is to increase is 5 strong portfolio to 20 outlets across the UK and Ireland. They aim to open 8 stores as soon as possible. Seeking stores in south Wales, Northern and southern Ireland, south Midlands, the southeast, Scotland and Yorkshire. 06 June 2006 - Topps Tiles will open 10 stores in the second half of the year, taking openings to 24 for the year and total store numbers to 268. 06 June 2006 - Wyevale have been bought by WCC Hortis, led by tycoon Sir Tom Hunter and Baugur subsidiary BG Holdings for £311m. 06 June 2006 - Paul Costelloe is on the expansion trail after the success of his first two standalone stores. He plans to open 4 UK outlets and is looking for a flagship outlet in central London. 06 June 2006 - Blooms of Bressingham are to reopen their largest sites in Bicester and Oxfordshire by spring next year. They have also acquired sites at Worcester and Stevenage, and intend to expand to Cardiff and Wales. 06 June 2006 - Mothercare are continuing to expand in the UK. They have indentified 40 high street and 20 out of town locations to open stores. They aim to open 10 per year. 06 June 2006 - Quba Sails are branching out from coastal locations and hunting for up to 20 sites across southern England. They have highlighted Bath, Cheltenham, Padstow and Marlow as priority areas. 06 June 2006 - ScS Upholstery aims to open 20 shops to increase its store count to 86 by September. It opened 13 shops in the first 6 months of the financial year and intends to unveil a further 7 stores in the second half to reach its target. 06 June 2006 - Long Toll Sally are now back on track after suffering lost sales last year. They have now been under new ownership for 12 months. Long Toll Sally was acquired by Maurice Helfgott and Michael Bennett in June last year. 06 June 2006 - Robert Dyas aim to have 150 stores by next year. 06 June 2006 - Vision Express is looking for franchisees to add 100 stores. They plan to to expand its 200-strong chain to 300. 06 June 2006 - Sainsbury's plan to open another 40 convenience stores this year and a further 40 next year. 06 June 2006 - Build-A-Bear have have bought Bear Factory. 06 June 2006 - The Pier has been bought by Danish tycoon Jakup Jacobsen for £7.9m last month. 02 June 2006 - Kurt Geiger opened a 1,050 sq ft concept store last week at the new MetQuarter scheme in Liverpool. 02 June 2006 - The Entertainer has just announced 4 of 6 stores that it plans to open this year. Two of the stores, in Watford and Cheltenham, are ex-QS outlets. 02 June 2006 - Debenhams is to anchor Modus' Friars Walk development in Newport, Gwent. Completion is set for Spring 2009. 02 June 2006 - Gap is set to open 2 further factory outlets. They have taken stores at Realm's Clarks Village in Street, Somerset and Junction 32 in Castleford, West Yorkshire. Both stores are due to open later this year. 02 June 2006 - Kent & Curwen have taken their first UK store on Conduit Street, London which opens this year. They are expected to roll put to the rest of the UK once this store has become established. The company are owned by LF Asia Investments , a private equity firm controlled by Li & Fung. The firm operates the brand through LiFung Trinity, which also runs Cerruti 1881 and Gieves & Hawkes. 01 June 2006 - Square Pie has opened its 5th outlet in 5 years. The site is located in Heathrow's Terminal 1. 01 June 2006 - Claudio Pulze is to open his 16th London restaurant in Mayfair this autumn. 01 June 2006 - Golden Tulip have announced a major expansion programme. The group plans to add 10 new-build hotels to its portfolio in the next 18 months. Chief Executive, Peter Roberts said he plans to have 25 by the end of 2008. 01 June 2006 - Dim T is set to open 5 more restaurants this year. Owner and company director Jonny Plant has said their will be a slow and steady expansion. They are also set to open a restaurant in South Kensington, London in September. 01 June 2006 - Noble House Leisure has sold their 17 restaurants to GI Partners including the Yellow River Cafe and Jim Thompson's brands, aswell as the assets of the 5 strong Oriental Pub Company. Robert Breare, chairman has kept 10 Arbuckles American burger bars as part of the deal. 01 June 2006 - Rojo has opened its fourth store and is looking to double the portfolio within 3 years. Their fourth store is located on Weymouth Street, London. 01 June 2006 - Vincent Shoe Store is set to make its UK debut with the opening of a store in Camden, North London. They also plan to open 2 further stores in London in the next year. 01 June 2006 - Esprit opened a flagship franchise store this week in Liverpool's Metquarter as part of a UK roll out. They also opened a franchise store at the Whitewater Centre in Newbridge, Republic of Ireland last month. 01 June 2006 - USC is rationalising its store portfolio with a handful of closures and new openings. A spokesman for the company said as many as 3 under performing stores would close, including Broad Street, Reading and possibly their North End store in Croydon. They are also looking to acquire new units in high profile locations. 01 June 2006 - Mamas and Papas will open their first international franchise store in Dubai in October. At least 10 more UK stores are planned for the next year, in towns including Liverpool and Preston. They also opened their 10,000 sq ft flagship store on London's Regent Street this week. 01 June 2006 - Baugur's MK One deal has gone sour after Les Johnston, the chief executive left the company last week. Chairman Kevin Lyon is thought to be running the business in the interim period. Baugur acquired the business in Nov 2004 for £44m plus £11m of debt. MAY 2006 31 May 2006 - Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King has said that he was determined to speed up the store opening programme and was not satisfied with opening 1.5-2% of new space a year against Tesco's 8% per year. 31 May 2006 - Next's chairman, David Jones has stepped down after 4 years of being chairman for Next Retail. Sales were down 5.8% from January 29th to May 13th. Mr Wolfson, chief executive, predicted a continued slowdown for the rest of the year. 31 May 2006 - Ottakar's this month rejected a second approach from HMV with the owner arguing it was materially below its then present market value of about £70m. They are still in discussions with HMV following thir approach. 31 May 2006 - Mothercare saw a strong year last year with a 56% rise in profit. They also opened 10 UK stores last year and closed 10. 31 May 2006 - Land of Leather are cautious about the year ahead despite plans to expand stores. Roger Matthews, chairman, has stated with the store roll out programme they provide excellent prospects for the group for many years to come. 26 May 2006 - B & Q, the home improvement brand owned by Kingfisher, slumped 75% as the chain endured its sixth consecutive quarter of falling sales. 26 May 2006 - Marks & Spencer's chief executive, Mr Rose has said that Marks & Spencer would spend at least £300m, or about £80-90 a square foot, revamping a third of the retailer's 400 stores. He also added that he was thinking of broadening the range by experimenting with branded electrical products. 25 May 2006 - The Alex Cafe Bar are looking for their 3rd site. 23 May 2006 - Debenhams-will have 8 Desire stores by end of 2006-next in Birmingham Fort; 14,000 sq ft Howgate, Falkirk. Truro; South Shields & Orpington. Full stores in Frenchgate, Doncaster, Workington, LLandudno (retail park). 25 store openings planned over next 5 years. 23 May 2006 - Stores in Cheltenham & Oakham. Plans to open 2 more stores. Requirement for Bath. 23 May 2006 - Regine opened concessions; will open standalone stores. 23 May 2006 - Simply Be catalogue- may start taking stores. 23 May 2006 - Blacks-7 out-of-town stores. Wants to open 10 more this year. 23 May 2006 - Bonmarche-363 stores-refurbishing 40 stores, but no new stores in 2006. 23 May 2006 - Select-to double stores to 600. Now has 250. 30 this year. New sites 2000-2500 sq ft. 23 May 2006 - Ghost-Tanya Sarne founder has left business. Kevin Stanford has 30% of Company. Arev also bought 30%. Looking to open standalone stores. 23 May 2006 - Quba Sails-seeking 20 stores in south of england. Requirements for-Cheltenham, Bath, Padstow, Marlow. Stores (7)-Salcombe,Cowes, 400-1000 sq ft. 23 May 2006 - Jack & Jones (owned by Dave Charlton of Officers Club)-6 stores-Meadowhall, White Rose Leeds. Requirement for Glasgow-6,000 sq ft. 23 May 2006 - Quadrant-Department Store-Chelmsford-Moulsham Street. Also store in Braintree. Owned by Mid Essex Coop Chelmsford. Extended sales by 25% to 37,000 sq ft. 22 May 2006 - Long Tall Sally-could reach 50 stores in 5 years. 22 May 2006 - Jones Bootmaker sold to Arev by Ken Bartle. Bought from Church & Co in 2001 (a subsidiary of Prada). 17 May 2006 - Moddershall Oaks have just opened their first site in Stone, Staffordshire. 17 May 2006 - Utility Retail are looking to expand throughout the UK. 17 May 2006 - Cape Clear have just opened a store in Shepherds Bush, London and are looking to expand. 15 May 2006 - Blacks Leisure have predicted leisure retailers would outperform other retail sectors. Russel Hardy, chief executive has revealed an increase pre-tax profit from £20m to £21m last year and sales fell 3.3%. 15 May 2006 - Matalan's annual results showed profit had more than halved last year. Geoff Brady, deputy chairman explained sales fell 6.9%. 12 May 2006 - Nisa-Today's and Costcutter will join forces in a deal worth about £200m. Nisa's 950-strong membership are ranging from regional shop chains to individual corner stores. 12 May 2006 - French Connection has warned again on profits. Stephen Marks, founder and chairman said: "There is little indication at the moment that the market conditions or our trading performance will change." 12 May 2006 - DSG International are expecting to beat profit forecasts this year. John Clare, chief executive of the company said they have been forced to retreat from the high street and re-invent DSG as an online retailer. They also started taking down the Dixons name from 190 shop fronts in March, renaming them Currys Digital. 12 May 2006 - HMV will launch its own online service to sell books via its Waterstone's chain by the autumn, after ending its deal with Amazon. 12 May 2006 - Carpetright have revealed a rise in sales. Lord Harris of Peckham, chairman and chief executive, said he was confident about trading during the year ahead at British department stores and unveiled a string of new concessions at groups such as House of Frasier and Debenhams. 12 May 2006 - Whitbread have announced plans to sell as many as 260 pubs from its pub restaurant estate. 12 May 2006 - Tesco is planning to spend £250m a year building stores in the US. 11 May 2006 - iSold It(US chain) -plans to enter UK. 11 May 2006 - Mosaic are to open 65 stores in 2006 under Coast & Oasis fascias. 11 May 2006 - Commes des Garcons opening in Glasgow with a temporary "Guerilla" shop-first in UK (Others in Berlin, Barcelona & Tokyo). 11 May 2006 - Virgin Megastore plans to open 10 outlets in 2006-then will have 139 stores. 20,000 sq ft Manchester Arndale. 11 May 2006 - Hotel-Le Monde are launching a new concept. First opened in George Street, Edinburgh. Looking to expand in Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and London. Backed by Billy Lowe, of Scottish & Newcastle. 10 May 2006 - Peacocks which also own Bon Marche (360 stores), and The Fragrance Shop. MD-Richard Kirk taken Peacock Group private (owns 24%-was 7%). He also heads-up consortium that bought Kwik Save from Somerfield. 10 May 2006 - Vama to expand its Vamaji restaurant & take-away concept with 3 outlets in London-St John's Wood, Notting Hill, Chiswick High Street. Also has concessions in Selfridges. 10 May 2006 - Giraffe are opening 3000 sq ft (280 sq m) at Bradwell Court, Cambridge in 2008. Also opening 1500 sq ft (140 sq m) in Princesshay, Exeter. Developer-Land Securities. 10 May 2006 - Fish! opened in Kingston-upon-Thames. Now looking to roll-out the concept to another 3 sites. Converting Loco Pronto in Borough Market (adjacent to existing fish! Restaurant). Others to follow in Maida Vale and Chiswick. 10 May 2006 - Asda Plans to expand to 20 stores in NI in next 3 years. 10 May 2006 - Geronimo Inns opened the Phoenix in Westminster-5,000 sq ft. 10 May 2006 - Multitrax Group are launching two London clubs. Due to open January 2007, both are 30,000 sq ft. One is in Imperial Wharf, Fulham, the other at the Royal Mint Tower Hill. Looking to expand in 2008/2009. 10 May 2006 - Marco Pierre White and Frankie Dettori opened their 4th Frankie's located in Putney Bridge Road, London. 10 May 2006 - Hilco restructuring Budget DIY chain of 7 stores, plus furniture store in Belfast. Based in Belfast. Sold store in Cookstown. 09 May 2006 - Shutopia was originally called Stress-Heads and was established in July 2004. After 18 months of trading, in January 06 a decision was made to change the name of the business to Shutopia. Stores in Leicester, Manchester and Meadowhall. 09 May 2006 - M&S are considering replacing its fascia with Your M&S-trialling at Edgware Road store. 09 May 2006 - Otto, the German catalogue Company is considering bringing its Crate & Barrel chain to the UK. 04 May 2006 - Akris has taken their first UK store at Old Bond Street, London previously occupied by Bally. 04 May 2006 - Clarks has suffered their first sales setback in a decade after facing strong competition from other retailers. The company gave warning that profits this year could take a hit of £10m to £15m. 04 May 2006 - Just learning have nearly 70 nurseries and is to be put up for sale for an estimated £80m. 04 May 2006 - Harvey & Thompson plans to open 30 stores over the next 3 years. 04 May 2006 - Geronimo Inns first out of town site opens in Ockham, Surrey in July. 03 May 2006 - DFS are on the expansion trail, aiming to open 8 stores this year. 03 May 2006 - Actif has been bought from administration by L Wear, founded by Mark and Christina Bunce. 03 May 2006 - Superdrug are set to debut in the Republic of Ireland next month. They will be opening stores at Omin Park, Tallaght and Wexford as part of its push for a 10 store presence in the country this year. They aim to open 50 Irish stores in the next 5 years and 35 UK outlets this year. 03 May 2006 - Countrywide Farmers aim to open 5 outlets this year. 03 May 2006 - Walter Steiger are to enter the UK opening their first store at Knightsbridge in London. 03 May 2006 - Links opened a store in Liverpool's Met Quarter in the beginning of March. 03 May 2006 - Nanette Lepore will plot its European expansion from a new store in Westbourne Grove, London. The store will be opening in early June. 03 May 2006 - Peter Werth is understood to be planning a large scale retail push in the next 5 years. Liverpool and Nottingham are to be their first locations for potential sites. 03 May 2006 - Focus are planning to open 20 stores over the next 2 years. 03 May 2006 - Pavers are set to double their store portfolio over the next 5 years. They also opened their 50th store at Alexander Mill in Batley at the beginning of the month. 03 May 2006 - Trespass are to open 12 shops in the UK this year as they bolster their presence in London and the South East. 03 May 2006 - Clinton Cards are struggling after they revealed an 88% drop in annual profit. It came after a profit warning in January following slow sales at the Birthdays chain of stores they acquired 15 months ago. 03 May 2006 - Quiz Clothing have launched a new storefit at Meadowhall in Sheffield and Manchester's Arndale Centre. 03 May 2006 - Fifi and Ally are on the expansion trail in Edinburgh and London. Edinburgh is where they will first be looking for a 7,000 sq ft store. London, Leeds and Manchester are next on the list. 03 May 2006 - Tesco are to open 3 non-food Homeplus stores this year in Bristol, Telford and Southampton. 03 May 2006 - Umbro is searching for its first high street shop and plans to have a flagship outlet in London or Manchester. 03 May 2006 - Moss Bross Group are to close their Cecil Gee shop on London's Oxford Street. They also plan an 80-store expansion of the Moss Bross chain to total 200 stores in the next 5 years. As part of the plan they will sell 4 of its 20 Cecil Gee stores. 03 May 2006 - Hotel Chocolat has just opened a store at Lakeside, Essex. Managing director Angus Thirlwell said he plans to open 20 outlets this year. APRIL 2006 28 April 2006 - Boundary Mill Stores has opened their first edge of town store at the former Allders site in Romford, Essex. It is their fifth, and the first store in the south. They plan to open about 3 more southern stores if Romford perfoms well. 27 Apr 2006 - Diesel is in talks to open a store at the Metquarter shopping centre in Liverpool this autumn. They are also considering other locations in major UK cities for more stores. 27 April 2006 - TJ Hughes will open its 50th store in Ipswich this June. 6 shops have opened since the start of the year, with 6 openings last autumn. 26 Apr 2006 - DSG will be renaming its remaining 190 Dixons sites Curry Digital. 26 Apr 2006 - Kurt Geiger will open a flagship store on London’s Regent Street this summer. They have also signed a joint venture with accessories brand Tod's to open the brand's first airport store at Heathrow's Terminal Three. 26 Apr 2006 - Ultimate Leisure is to roll out its late night bar brand Prohibition around the UK. Ultimate bought the Prohibition brand from Living Ventures for £2.75m last December. Three Prohibition bars are already open in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool with a fourth site due to open in Nottingham's Lace Market soon. 26 Apr 2006 - North Face has a hit list of up to 10 major UK and RoI towns and cities that are potential locations for franchise stores. It already has stores in London and Manchester run by Ellis Brigham. 26 Apr 2006 - Sports World owner Mike Ashley plans to launch a full price boardsports chain, Alive. 26 Apr 2006 - Town Centre Restaurants will over the next 12 months add five outlets. 26 Apr 2006 - Clapham House Group snapped up 30 Tootsies restaurants for £25.3m 3 weeks ago, the group almost doubled in size. The deal means that the founders, former Pizza Express directors David Page and Paul Campbell are now well on their way to achieving a national rollout. 25 Apr 2006 - Iceland's expansion plans have cooled as they have only one or two stores due to open this year out of a possible 60 they had been targeting. 25 April 2006 - Yours has hit 45 stores after opening 5 shops in East Anglia in the last seven weeks. Southend on Sea, Lincoln, East Dereham, Beaumont Leys and Harlow are the newest additions. Owner Andrew Killingsworth hopes to take the portfolio to 80 stores by 2008. 25 Apr 2006 - Quiksilver opened a flagship store in London's Regent Street last week. 25 Apr 2006 - Debenhams have stated they have the potential to double their retail space of 9.2m sq ft by rolling out their smaller store format Desire by Debenhams and opening more full line stores. 25 Apr 2006 - Woolrich are looking for a London flagship. The store will be operated by Italian licensee WP Lavori. They are currently based in the US. 25 Apr 2006 - Liz Claiborne have quit the UK closing more than 40 concessions and shutting their London Regent Street flagship. 25 Apr 2006 - Moda in Pelle was bought out of administration by its previous owners Stephen and Claire Buck. 25 Apr 2006 - Jane Norman are kick starting an international expansion after opening their first overseas concession in Denmark. 25 Apr 2006 - Diesel has opened their London flagship in Bond Street. 25 Apr 2006 - Moss Bros's young sub-brand Ventuno 21 has convinced them they can become a standalone chain. They are also set to open a Moss store located in Cardiff. 25 Apr 2006 - United Co-op have acquired 63 stores in the last 18 months. 25 Apr 2006 - Soho Gyms Club managing director Mike Crockett has said that their flagship Waterloo Club has been a success and they want to open up another 10 in London. 25 Apr 2006 - Firetrap have signed their third UK store in Liverpool's Metquarter. 25 Apr 2006 - Blooming Marvellous are in talks to open four stores by the end of the year. Managing director Will Lewis wants to open up to 8 stores a year. 25 Apr 2006 - One Small Step, One Giant Leap are on the expansion trail opening four more stores by the end of the year. They plan to eventually have up to 40 outlets. 25 Apr 2006 - Sasha is preparing to move into Nothern Ireland and are planning to open 20 concessions. 25 Apr 2006 - Von Dutch are preparing to open another store. 25 Apr 2006 - ADD Leisure plan to open a chain of high street fitness and wellbeing studios measuring between 1,000 sq ft (90 sq m) and 1,500 sq ft (140 sq m) 25 Apr 2006 - Fish Kitchen are are set for rapid expansion following the success of their venue in Kingston, London. They plan to roll out three new sites over the next four months. The first is expected to open in eight weeks. 24 Apr 2006 - Tile Depot is to triple its store count over the next 18 months. They want stores between 4,000 sq ft and 6,000 sq ft (370 sq m and 555 sq m) and would extend as far as Birmingham but the emphasis would be on wealthy towns. 24 Apr 2006 - BB's Coffee & Muffins wants a further 40 outlets this year. 21 Apr 2006 - Confetti aims to triple the size of their portfolio within two years. 21 Apr 2006 - Vom Fass plans to expand their franchise business to 100 stores by 2011. They expect to open 15 franchises next year and 20 the year after. 21 Apr 2006 - MFI will downsize their stores, which average 20,000 sq ft (1,850 sq m) and plans to close 11 shops and carry out a store by store review on their remaining property. 21 Apr 2006 - Evans Cycles are opening five stores this year. They are opening an outlet at Braehead in Glasgow on April 24, a store at Kendal in Cumbria on April 29 and a Canary Wharf shop in June. 21 Apr 2006 - Topps Tiles have opened 14 shops in 26 weeks. They have a new store opening target of 24. 21 Apr 2006 - Natuzzi will open six London based outlets in the next two years. They will open three stores within the M25 catchment area and three in central London. Last month Natuzzi looked set to retrench from the UK when they closed six outlets trading under the Kingdom of Leather fascia, and three trading as Natuzzi. 21 Apr 2006 - Faith is pressing ahead with 20 UK store openings. They also plan to open a further 10 standalone stores and 10 concessions this year. Faith also have openings coming up in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Belfast. 21 Apr 2006 - Silverscreen went into administration last week, with administrator Kroll keen to sell the 65 store chain. 20 Apr 2006 - Elle Licensee Actif Group have gone into administration. Actif operates nine high street and nine outlet stores. They are being traded by administrator Kroll. 20 Apr 2006 - 99p stores have announced dramatic expansion plans aiming to open another 45 stores within 20 months, doubling its estate and moving into Wales and Scotland. Nine stores are already in the pipeline with the next store opening in Catford, South London. 20 Apr 2006 - Ward Anderson has launched a new company called Empire Cinemas. The location of the first Empire Cinema is in Leicester Square, London. Other sites include Odeon sites in Sutton, Hemel Hempstead and Bromley and the UCI cinema in Poole. 20 Apr 2006 - Smollensky's have closed two of their sites in London, one on Finchley Road and the other near Ludgate Circus. The launch of the new casual brand Smollenskys Metro has been delayed until November with deals on three Greater London sites in Richmond, Croydon and Charing Cross. 20 Apr 2006 - Superdrug have committed to opening 35 stores this year. 20 Apr 2006 - New Look have expanded rapidly over the past 12 months. New Look aims to have expanded trading space from 1.6m sq ft to 2.4m sq ft. This year New Look takes control of 34 former Littlewoods stores. 20 Apr 2006 - HMV has plans for 20 to 25 stores. 20 Apr 2006 - Debenhams have 23 contracted stores in the pipeline. 20 Apr 2006 - Comet will add 10 stores this year. 20 Apr 2006 - Game will open about 100 stores, 80% of them being in mainland Europe and the rest being in the UK. 20 Apr 2006 - Primark plans to open more than 45 stores in the UK and Ireland this year. 20 Apr 2006 - TM Retail plans to take Forbuoys and Dillons off the high street and convert them into Martins, McColls or RS McColl fascias by 2008. All brands will be switching to the McColl brand except CTN's which will assume the Martins name. 20 Apr 2006 - Virgin Megastore have a number of openings scheduled for 2006 beginning with The Bridgewater Centre in Newbridge, Ireland. Other new openings this year include sites in Plymouth, Hereford and Reading. They aim to open 10-12 new stores this year. There are also a number of stores lined up for 2007/2008. 20 Apr 2006 - Devernois has opened its fifth UK franchise store in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. 20 Apr 2006 - Shoe Zone will move past the 400-store mark this year with 35 new openings with an ultimate target of 500 shops. 20 Apr 2006 - B & M Retail plan to have 40 stores by the end of 2007. They currently have 22 stores. 20 Apr 2006 - Ma Potters managing director John Gater has announced the group would open three more restaurants this year and a further seven in 2007. The first of them will open at the Xscape Braehead in Glasgow. 20 Apr 2006 - Millies Cookies are to build on the momentum of seven new store openings in the UK at the end of 2005. 20 Apr 2006 - The John David Group bought Scotts in 2004 and is converting its other sports fashion fascias Ath Leisure and AV to Scotts shops. 20 April 2006 - Rigby & Peller opened their third store this week in Brent Cross, North London. 20 Apr 2006 - Limeys has relocated to a 7,000 sq ft flagship in Nottinghams Wheeler Gate. They have stores in Derby, Leicester, Birmingham, Sheffield and two womenswear shops in Derby. 20 Apr 2006 - Sports World are planning to launch a surf and outdoor chain called Alive. They purchased lifestyle chains Hargreaves and Gilesports earlier this year. 20 Apr 2006 - Sweaty Betty has opened five stores including Bristol, Brighton, Bluewater and three concessions in Reading, Cardiff and Norwich in the past 12 months. 20 Apr 2006 - Stradivarius are opening their first store in the Whitewater Centre in Newbridge, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. 20 Apr 2006 - Next is creating a label called Lime designed specifically for their Next clearance stores. They are also planning to add 450,000 sq ft to their 4.3m sq ft of selling space this year. 20 Apr 2006 - Village Hotels & Leisure Clubs has opened two new properties in Bournemouth and Hull. Parent company De Vere Group plans to roll out the Village Hotels brand by a further two to three hotels per year. 20 Apr 2006 - Dakota are opening a hotel in August at the Eurocentral scheme near Glasgow. 20 Apr 2006 - Moss have 5 new Moss stores this year. Intend to nearly double the size of their retailing chain in the next few years. 20 Apr 2006 - SCS Upholstery have recently opened new stores in Wrexham, Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Mansfield and Nottingham and are all trading successfully. They also opened a further store in Silverlink Retail Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. 18 Apr 2006 - Abode has bought its fifth property, the Rosetti hotel in Manchester. The Manchester hotel joins properties in Glasgow, Exeter, Canterbury and Chester. Glasgows new Vibe Bar is due to open on 27th April. Abode plan to expand the portfolio to 15-20 sites within 10 years. They aim for locations such as Edinburgh, Newcastle, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Bath and London. 18 Apr 2006 - Goals Soccer Centres have four sites due to open in 2006 and a further five scheduled for 2007. 18 Apr 2006 - Talarius has acquired Leisurama Entertainments and Leisurama Holdings for £12m and will integrate the 19 gaming centres and bingo lounges into its Quicksilver brand. 18 Apr 2006 - Geronimo Inns has acquired it's first freehold property in central London. They also intend to develop the new site into a flagship property called The Phoenix - Geronimo located on Palace Street, Westminster. 18 Apr 2006 - Whitbread has acquired seven Holiday Inn branded hotels from LRG Acquisition for £34.5m. 18 Apr 2006 - Fishworks is on course to double it's store numbers to ten outlets in the space of a year. Fishworks will open its ninth store in Richmond and has reached an agreement over their tenth site in Clapham. They plan to open four outlets a year for the next few years. 18 Apr 2006 - Dewhurst Butchers 60 out of their 95 stores have been closed by administrator BDO Stoy Howard. 18 Apr 2006 - Wilkinson currently have more than 260 stores across England and Wales and aims to have 370 by 2010. 18 Apr 2006 - Asdas first Essentials store opened to shoppers in Northampton this week. The second store will open in Pontefract in May, while a further four trial stores are expected to open by the end of the year. 18 Apr 2006 - Budgens plan to open 25 stores a year. Musgrave Budgens Londis is to sell the remaining 128 corporate-owned stores to become a pure franchise operator. 18 Apr 2006 - Waitrose has entered Scotland for the first time with the acquisition of two stores in Edinburgh from Somerfield. They have also bought three more stores from Somerfield in Balham and the Barbican, London and Buxton, Derbyshire. 18 Apr 2006 - Speciality Retail Group are dropping its Suits Direct and You fascias to focus on their core Suits You chain. They have also signed up for a 2,300 sq ft Suits You store that will open next month in Manchester's Arndale Centre. 18 Apr 2006 - Lacoste will open it's first UK womenswear store in Londons South Molton Street in June. Occupying the former Proibito unit, the 800 sq ft boutique will be run by KBL. 8 of their 16 stores are run by KBL, with the rest run by franchise partners. 18 Apr 2006 - Alexon plans to open up to 50 new Bay Trading standalone stores over the next three years, including 12 to 15 stores this year. It is targeting market towns to add to the chain's 148 shops. 10 Apr 2006 - Laura Ashley are soon opening four stores in Swindon, Southampton, Cardiff and Stafford. 7 Apr 2006 - Kwik Save's buyer, Back to the Future (BTTF) will slash the retailers general merchandise range to concentrate on a convenience offer. BTTF took control of 171 Kwik Save stores from Somerfield, which is its self being remodelled under private equity ownership. Somerfield kept 102 of the 380-strong Kwik Save estate and will rebrand the outlets to its own fascia. The remaining 107 Kwik Save stores have been sold to six retailers believed to include Netto, Aldi and Lidl. 7 Apr 2006 - Farah is to open a standalone store at Springfields outlet shopping centre in Linc