Here's what local news sources are reporting about retail property in Europe:
• Sainsbury's to buy Home Retail Group for €1.72 billion — Bloomberg via Internet Retailer J Sainsbury Plc will purchase Home Retail Group for about £1.3 billion (€1.72 billion), giving it control of the company's 800 Argos stores. Sainsbury's plans to close Argos stores and re-open them inside nearby Sainsbury's supermarkets.
• Tesco turns lights off on 24-hour trading schedule at UK stores — Retail Business Review Tesco won't be open 24 hours a day seven days a week anymore at 76 of its large stores. Traffic is too weak during the early morning hours to support the expense, the retailer said. The stores will now close at midnight and open at 06.00.
• UK: Trinity Walk traffic up 4 per cent in 2015 — Shopping Centre Wakefield's Trinity Walk shopping centre saw more than 11 million shopping visits in 2015, a 4 per cent increase compared to 2014. "People are still discovering the centre and most new shoppers say they would return, which gives us scope to grow even further in our fifth year," said Cormac Hamilton, centre manager.
• Consumers spend more in 'green' stores: Report — Edie.net Retailers can boost their profits by providing greener, 'healthier' stores, according to the World Green Building Council. “The days of ‘grey box retailers’ are numbered," said the group's chief executive Terri Wills. "A new breed of businesses is emerging which understands that better shopping environments lead to better experiences.
• AEW Europe pays €125 million for Madrid luxury store — Property Magazine International AEW Europe's City Retail Fund will make its first Spanish acquisition: the €125 million purchase of a 750 square-metre flagship retail unit on Madrid's upscale shopping boulevard Calle Serrano from a joint venture between Rockspring Property Investment Managers and a local investor.
• Boxpark to open second London centre — Daily Commercial News When it opens this summer, Boxpark Croydon will be the firm's second retail centre built from shipping containers. It opend its first centre in Shoreditch in 2011 to much fanfare.
• Investors preferred UK offices to retail in 2015: Report — Workplace Insight UK commercial property investment was up in 2015, according to CoStar Group, but much of the interest was in office properties. The amount of investment in retail properties was well below the eight-year average. CoStar says the overall sector's growth will likely slow in 2016.
• House of Fraser breaks silos to grow omni-channel sales — Essential E-commerce House of Fraser is realigning its business so customers can buy “any place, any time, any way," says the retailer's chief customer officer Andy Harding. These changes include a big push to get customers to use their smartphones in-store.
• UK: Centra expanding as sales grow — Sunday Business Post Convenience store chain Centra will invest €16 million to open 16 stores this year. The retailer reported a 1.6 per cent increase in sales last year, to €1.54 billion.
