Swiss duty-free retailer Dufry on Thursday posted 144.5% organic sales growth for the first quarter, supported by an uptake in travel in Europe and the Americas as coronavirus curbs were eased.

Yet more strong numbers from the commercial property sector on Thursday. Major London landlord Great Portland Estates joined its peers British Land and Landsec this week in delivering an upbeat performance for the year.

M&S is continuing to open statement new stores as the UK retail giant enjoys a turnaround in its fortunes. It’s set to take over another former Debenhams site, at the Lakeside mall in Essex.

​Malls giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) is continuing to roll out its Westfield brand to more locations and has announced that it’s rebranding three flagship centres under that name.

Landlord Grosvenor has launched an interesting project, unveiling “an innovation challenge seeking to find new technologies and partners that are putting customer experience at the heart of bricks and mortar retail”.

The French fashion house will unveil its new men's collection this Thursday, May 19, on Venice Beach, as well as on Facebook. Creative Director Kim Jones will also present a collaboration with the label Erl.

​British Land became the second UK property giant in two days to report that the sector’s post-pandemic trading is thriving again, delivering “a strong performance across all parts of our business” for the year.

British inflation surged last month to its highest annual rate since 1982, piling pressure on finance minister Rishi Sunak to step up his help for households facing a worsening cost-of-living crisis.

​Battered N Brown group saw its share price rising early on Wednesday on the announcement of a new sub-brand being launched by the company and also its full-year results update.

U.S. retail sales rose strongly in April as consumers bought more motor vehicles amid an improvement in supply and increased spending at restaurants, providing a powerful boost to the economy.

Landlord Shaftesbury, which owns a 16-acre portfolio in London's West End, has just got a little bigger in the retail area. ​The property giant has acquired a long leasehold in the lower floors of 92-104 Berwick Street.

​Property giant Landsec — which owns most of Bluewater — spoke of its strong financial and operational position Tuesday, “expecting to deliver material growth in income”. And that's with UK economic turbulence factored in.

​UK footfall’s post-pandemic recovery took a hit last week as concerns over rising prices and worries over an impending recession deepened. There were negative numbers (almost) everywhere for the 8-14 May period. 

​As costs and inflation rise and the prospect of recession looms large, retail bosses are being targeted for ‘excessive’ pay and bonuses, with fashion retail giant Next among them.

​The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has beefed up the non-executive directors on its board with the appointment of two new names, including Peter Wood, the CEO of AllSaints.

​Made.com — the digital lifestyle brand that last week announced it’s buying Trouva — released a trading update on Monday and also revised its guidance for the year ahead.