Retail

A daring and contentious budget speech by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling was punctuated with an interesting promise: the UK economy is set to grow at the start of next year. Speaking in the Commons, Darling said that GDP will grow 1.25 per cent by 2010 and climb …

Value retail chain Poundland has today announced that it has purchased 12 ex-Woolworths stores. One hundred former Woolies staff have been taken on by the firm following the buy, which forms part of Poundland’s planned expansion. The retailer is committed to opening at least 30 new stores in the UK …

GAME Group has posted encouraging gains in both turnover and profit during its preliminary results for the year ended 31 January 2009. Group turnover reached 1.97bn for the period, an impressive 32 per cent gain on the 1.49bn achieved in the same period last year. At the same time the …

The UK annual inflation measured by the Retail Prices Index has for the first time since 1960 today revealed that the UK economy is in a state of deflation – but video games remain one of the few categories increasing in price. The BBC reports that the RPI fell to …

An undercover investigation by a Trading Standards authority has exposed a number of retailers for selling mature games to a 14 year-old volunteer. The operation, which took place last week, saw the volunteer attempt to purchase 18-rated video games across 16 separate retail outlets. According to Dundee Council, twelve of …

Click here to head over to the updated RETAIL BIZ previews section for the lowdown on some of the key releases approaching retail over the next month. This week, we swap our rolling pin for a garden hose in 505 Games’ Gardening Mama, the sequel to the casual gaming phenomenon …

A rush of 120,000 users heading online to play Demigod should be good news for Stardock’s MMO Demigod, despite the resulting server woes – but when 102,000 of those users are playing a pirated copy of the game, it becomes a major concern. Speaking on the official Demigod site, the …

Play.com has recruited Patrick Kelly as its new head of games. Kelly joins Play with a wealth of industry knowledge, having held a similar position at Zavvi before the chain’s closure earlier this year. Prior to Zavvi, Kelly had worked within games for Virgin Retail. These are incredibly exciting times …

As finances continue to worsen for troubled publisher Midway the owners and debtors of the firm have agreed that $30m is the new target sale price. A key employee incentive plan, as reported by Variety, states that 28 key Midway members will receive a number of financial rewards if this …

With the online price comparison market becoming increasingly competitive, new outfit Sccope is targeting gamers to give itself a head start in the long battle to win internet market share. A statement from the new portal claims to offer a route to substantial savings on games – for instance, a …