The reading room25 September 2026
Retail Week · Editor's Choice

The high street needs more than a taskforce

The week's retail arguments, numbers and uncomfortable questions, with the useful bits from every story in this issue.
Retail Week high-street shops

Images: Retail Week and its credited sources. Further images from the original stories below.

Co-op shop image from Retail WeekCo-op
Clarendon Fine Art gallery in John Lewis Oxford StreetJohn Lewis
Jade Holland Cooper portrait from Retail WeekHolland Cooper
The week in one minute

A policy taskforce cannot fix empty shops with another report. Co-op is buying back traffic with margin, while Holland Cooper shows what happens when a founder is also the media channel.

Retail Week's editor also ties the issue to youth employment, John Lewis's art galleries and grocers' waning trust. The linked reports add the operational detail below.

The editor's nine picks

9 stories
Analysis

Co-op: the second-half wager

The group lost £45m on an underlying operating basis in the six months to 4 July, against a £32m loss a year earlier. Food sales rose 2.6% to £3.7bn; the group put roughly 1% of margin into price and promotions, and says transactions have returned to pre-cyberattack levels. Membership grew 11% to 7.5m. Kate Allum points to bigger baskets and more transactions since summer, while finance chief Rachel Izzard notes £78m of cost headwinds, a lower debt balance and £1.2bn liquidity. The Southern Co-op transfer adds 170 stores, 70 funeral homes and three crematoria, but integration awaits the CMA. The permanent CEO search continues, as do questions over culture and job cuts.

Important comparison caveat

Co-op’s own interim statement says £11m of the £13m year-on-year deterioration in underlying operating profit reflects accounting treatment, and warns that the 2025 cyberattack distorts the comparison. Its quick-commerce sales grew 24%; that is company-reported, not independent evidence of a profitable channel.

My take

“A year of two halves” is a forecast, not yet a turnaround. The relevant test is whether price investment holds traffic after the promotional sugar wears off, without giving away the margin again. Membership growth and quick-commerce momentum are useful; an interim CEO, a culture question and a merger review are not minor footnotes.

Read the Retail Week story · Co-op interim results
Analysis

Burnham and the high street: another taskforce?

Francisco Uranga traces a familiar sequence: the 2011 Portas Review, two Grimsey reviews and the Timpson panel. The recurring asks are business-rates reform, local control, easier planning and mixed-use town centres. Burnham’s early moves target betting shops, vape shops and illegal tobacco, but the full plan is still to come. Retailers and consultants argue fixed business rates remain the bigger structural burden. A property analyst estimates high-street retail floorspace needs to fall by around 20%, while examples such as Stockton-on-Tees show that replacing failing retail with public space can work. Twelve councils joined the high-street rental-auction pilot; none had completed an auction as of the article, though the threat may have pushed landlords to act.

My take

The article’s best insight is not “rates bad”. It is that a viable high street may need less retail, better transport and owners with a stake in the place. Policing the vape-shop mix is easier to announce than changing the economics of property. Judge the taskforce by occupied units, footfall and delivered reforms, not the number of people on it.

Read the Retail Week story
Chart of the week

Grocers have a trust problem

Retail Week cites EY’s survey of more than 10,000 consumers across 200 brands, which places grocery last on median brand sentiment. A separate Konfidant rolling survey of 2,000 consumers puts net trust in supermarkets at 18% since July, down from the recovery after the 2023 low of 6%; the pandemic high was 57%. The article says Lidl tends to gain customers when sector trust falls, and notes EY sees leaders improving while laggards slip.

My take

Low trust does not prove profiteering. Grocery is where people meet inflation several times a week, so every shelf-edge price is a referendum. A brand can defend its margin spreadsheet all it likes; clear value cues and no nasty surprises at checkout will do more of the persuasion.

Read the Retail Week story
Feature

Jade Holland Cooper: the founder is the channel

The founder tells Retail Week that daily Instagram posts help sell her own luxury lifestyle label. The business recorded £55m in sales last year, up 34%, and £9m pre-tax profit, according to the article. It began at country shows and still does £500,000-£600,000 over four days at some events. Despite that scale, it has only two shops of its own; she is enlarging the Cheltenham store and considering more selective wholesale, including a possible return to Harrods. She wants to extend the range from clothes into home, garden, men and children, but says she still manages her own social presence.

My take

This is a founder-media business that happens to sell clothes. Her “content strategy” works because the same person designs the world, wears the product and hears the blunt feedback in a muddy field. The advantage is unusually hard to copy; the dependency on one human being is unusually hard to scale. £55m in sales is impressive, but that tension is the real story.

Read the Retail Week story
Opinion

Work experience is not a wage

Charlotte Hardie argues that Sainsbury’s, Asda and others are investing seriously in work-experience routes for young people, but internships cannot guarantee paid jobs. She warns that the optics become difficult when the same sector announces redundancies and teenagers cannot find Saturday work. Her point is not that the schemes are cynical, but that communications cannot paper over the employment gap.

My take

Retail should publish the conversion rate into paid work, then show what happens six and twelve months later. Otherwise “opportunity” can sound suspiciously like a substitute for an actual payslip, even when the programme is well meant.

Read the Retail Week story
Interview

Kingfisher: repair beats big-ticket jitters

Kingfisher’s Thierry Garnier says kitchens are holding up better than bathrooms after B&Q big-ticket sales fell 8.1% in Q2. Finance chief Bhavesh Mistry says about two-thirds of the business serves repair and maintenance, and trade is roughly a third, giving some resilience. Garnier describes conversational search planned for B&Q with Google, and puts business-rates reform at the top of his Budget asks, arguing online-only competitors face a different property-tax burden.

My take

The AI search point is interesting only if it moves a confused DIY customer from “what do I need?” to a correct basket without a return. The more immediate commercial hedge is much duller: repair missions and trade customers keep coming even when consumers postpone the new bathroom.

Read the Retail Week story
Opinion

The West End wants a different tax bargain

New West End Company chief Dee Corsi makes the case for progressive business rates rather than sharp valuation thresholds, stronger action on organised retail crime and policies that keep London attractive to international visitors. She cites £17bn in tax revenues and 350,000 jobs linked to the West End, and says members will invest £23m in security over five years. These are the trade body’s own claims and policy asks, not a neutral impact study.

My take

The West End is not the average high street. It is a national export shop window with a formidable lobbying operation. Still, the overlap with Burnham’s taskforce is telling: property tax, safety and visitor spending beat another generic “experience” speech.

Read the Retail Week story
Interview

Clarendon’s art galleries inside John Lewis

Beth Butterwick says Clarendon’s consultants can help John Lewis customers discover, try at home and hang art, backed by artist events. Galleries are open in Oxford Street and Southampton, with Cheadle planned. She sees the tie-up as part of John Lewis bringing in specialists where it lacks the skill, as it has done with Waterstones. Clarendon says it has around 84 land galleries and a presence on about 14 cruise ships; the partner article puts annual sales at roughly £90m. Butterwick says expansion will be selective, not a race.

My take

This has a more plausible reason to visit than plonking a café in a corner and calling it experiential. Art needs advice, installation and an emotional decision. The question is whether it lifts dwell time and spend for John Lewis, or simply rents out attractive floor space.

Read the Retail Week story
Opinion

Asda’s supported internships, with an outcome to measure

Asda chief people officer James Goodman argues for supported internships for young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Its DFN Project Search partnership is expanding to 210 year-long placements in 35 stores. The linked news report says 43% of interns have entered paid employment with Asda or another employer since the programme began in 2023; the opinion piece rounds that to “more than 40%”. Both figures come from Asda, and neither is a guarantee for an individual participant.

My take

This is a stronger answer to the “where are the jobs?” challenge than a generic work-experience launch, because it names paid employment as the outcome. Keep publishing the denominator, the timing and retention. Otherwise a good intervention gets buried under a vague purpose claim.

Read the Retail Week story

More headlines

6 stories
Grocery

Aldi tests Deliveroo in eight stores

Aldi starts a Shop & Deliver trial on 6 October in eight shops across Kent, Norwich, Ipswich, Letchworth Garden City and Tamworth, with wider rollout planned for early 2027. Deliveroo riders, rather than Aldi staff, will pick, pack and deliver. The offer includes grocery staples and middle-aisle products.

My take

Smart operational dodge: add a convenience channel without asking a discount-store team to run a second fulfilment operation. The test is the delivered price and picking quality; low shelf prices do not automatically survive the last mile.

Read the Retail Week story
Value retail

Poundland and Dealz could be split

Retail Week reports that owner Gordon Brothers is exploring separate sales of UK Poundland and Irish Dealz after interest in the latter. A management buyout of Poundland is also understood to be possible. The report describes 600 UK Poundland shops and 70 Dealz shops in Ireland. These are reported discussions, not a completed sale.

My take

If the Irish arm commands a cleaner valuation, separating it may expose what buyers really think the UK turnaround is worth. Do not mistake a sale process for a recovery.

Read the Retail Week story
Fashion

H&M profit rises faster than sales

Retail Week reports a 22% rise in operating profit, to SEK 6.0bn, against 1% local-currency sales growth. It attributes improved profitability to purchasing and cost control, while H&M says summer collections helped and logistics disrupted sales. Management is buying more clothing in-season to respond to weather and trends.

My take

A cleaner cost base is welcome, but the next proof is sustained demand. Buying later is the sensible response to volatile weather; the trick is doing it without losing the price and quality bargain.

Read the Retail Week story
Loyalty

Majestic pays points in wine

Majestic’s new app earns one point per £1 across channels and unlocks wine rewards at 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,600 points. Retail Week names premium rewards including Lanson at the top tier. The scheme is designed to pull known customers into the app and link store and online spend.

My take

The reward is product, not a token 5%-off coupon. That suits a retailer selling discovery as much as alcohol, though an app-only redemption risks adding friction for its less digitally keen regulars.

Read the Retail Week story
Fashion

Asos returns to quarterly growth

Full-year gross merchandise value fell 5%, but Q4 reached low-single-digit growth. UK and Germany were positive in the second half; the US returned to growth in Q4. Asos expects adjusted EBITDA above the midpoint of its £150m-£180m guidance, citing fewer returns, cost discipline and new customer acquisition.

My take

An improving exit rate is not the same as a growing year. The welcome sign is that fewer returns and stronger demand appear together; watch whether that holds without leaning on promotion.

Read the Retail Week story
Home

DFS grows profit in a subdued market

Underlying pre-tax profit rose £14.7m to £44.9m for the year to 28 June, on revenue up 2.6% to £1.06bn. Early-year orders were down 2.5%, which DFS says was in line with expectations, with heatwaves hurting upholstery footfall. It still expects moderate profit growth amid weak consumer confidence.

My take

A stronger margin in a flat market is an operating win. It is not a signal that customers have rediscovered the joy of buying sofas in a heatwave.

Read the Retail Week story

Also linked in the editor's letter

3 stories
Linked report

Co-op’s actual interim numbers

The linked results report details the £45m underlying operating loss, 2.6% food revenue rise, 24% quick-commerce growth, 42 store openings and the margin invested in price. Its own statement adds the accounting and cyberattack comparison caveats.

My take

Use the company statement for the numbers, then apply a healthy discount to its “momentum” adjective.

Read the Retail Week story
Linked report

John Lewis opens its gallery partnership

The opening report confirms Oxford Street and Southampton galleries, with Cheadle planned. Clarendon sells work from established and contemporary artists and quotes turnover of about £90m.

My take

The partner gives John Lewis expertise it could not conjure up with a fixture refresh.

Read the Retail Week story
Linked report

Asda expands the placement scheme

The linked news article supplies the operational detail: 210 placements in 35 stores, a year-long programme with DFN Project Search, and Asda’s reported 43% progression into employment since 2023.

My take

A concrete placement count and conversion rate make this easier to scrutinise than a slogan.

Read the Retail Week story

Pick of the week

The one to read in full

Jade Holland Cooper on turning likes into a £55m business

The headline says Instagram. The deeper point is a distribution system built around the founder's taste and access to her customers. Country shows keep the physical feedback loop alive, while her daily posts scale the relationship. That is a proper marketing advantage, with a very real founder-dependency problem attached. It is more useful to an operator than another abstract high-street taskforce.

Read the feature