Spar Colruyt Group will reopen two refurbished supermarkets in Diest and Kalken in Belgium on 28 November. The refurbished store in Diest has a sales area of almost 1,000 square metres and employs around 20 people. The fresh produce department has been modernised and expanded to offer products of better quality. Store owner, Filip Claes, said, "The reputation of our quality fresh produce reaches far beyond Diest. We wanted to further improve on that. That’s why we installed better equipment and increased the retail area."
Japan's annual core consumer inflation ticked up only marginally in October despite the boost from a sales tax hike during the month, suggesting weak household sentiment is keeping companies from passing on the higher costs, reports Reuters. The data underscores the challenge the Bank of Japan faces in firing up inflation to its elusive 2% target, as soft global demand and the U.S.-China trade war cloud the outlook for the export-reliant economy.
Glasgow-based fast food chain German Doner Kebab (GDK) is planning to open 40 outlets on the island of Ireland, beginning in 2020. Over the past half decade, GDK has opened a plethora of restaurants across the UK, Sweden, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and, in addition to its planned 40 restaurants in Ireland, the company currently has nine new US outlets, as well as another eight UK branches, in the pipeline. GDK told The Irish Independent that it intends to open its first Irish restaurant in Dublin by June of next year at an "iconic location" that's still subject to negotiations. Following the opening its first Dublin branch, the company plans to open an outlet in Belfast and then expand to other cities and towns around the island.
UK retailer Sainsbury's has announced that it has increased the price of its ‘Bag for Life’ carrier bags from 10p to 20p. The retailer aims to encourage consumers to reuse carrier bags, thereby reducing the use of plastics. Commenting on the decision to increase the price of the bags, a Sainsbury's spokesperson said, "This is part of our ongoing commitment to help reduce the amount of plastic that’s used and we continue to donate the profits to good causes. "We are trialling this across our store estate to test the customer response and welcome customer feedback."
Supermarket chain Tegut is in talks with real estate investor Redos to acquire seven branches of Germany's Real supermarket chain, a report in the Handelsblatt has revealed. For months, Metro has been negotiating with Redos, which was chosen as the preferred bidder for the Real supermarkets. Redos expressed interest in acquiring 280 Real stores from the parent company, Metro.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
