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Retailer News

29 October Opening for UAE Apple Stores

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29 October Opening for UAE Apple Stores

Apple confirms the opening dates for the first two Apple Stores in the United Arab Emirates-- 29 October 2015, with the stores located in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The Dubai location is in the Mall of the Emirates, Al Barsha, while the Abu Dhabi store is in Yas Mall, Yas Island. The Dubai store is supposedly the biggest in the world, as it covers an area of 50000 square feet. The current biggest Apple Store, the one in Covent Garden, London, has 3 floors making a total area of 40000 square feet.

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Brussels Apple Store Opens

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Brussels Apple Store Opens

As previously announced Apple opens the first Store in Brussels on 19 September 2015-- the first with a "next generation" store interior overseen by chief design officer Jony Ive.

Located at Avenue de la Toison d'Or, the Store is designed by Foster & Capital. It features huge curved glass panes on the facade, while inside a single giant display replaces the typical backlit screen panels.

The interior also includes two rows of real potted trees, light boxes extending the length of the ceiling, wooden accessory shelves and touch-sensitive sequoia wood tables.

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Apple to Open First Brussels Store

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Apple to Open First Brussels Store

The first Apple Store in Belgium gets an official opening date-- 19 September 2015, together with a listing on the company website.

Located in Avenue de la Toison d'Or, Brussels, the retail outlet features a hoarding saying "Creativity, to be Continued," paired with examples of comic book art.

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Dubai Apple Store Faces Delay

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Dubai Apple Store Faces Delay

The opening of the first Apple Store in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) gets pushed back by "at least a month" to October 2015, The National reports, even as the company plans to open more outlets in the region.

The Dubai Mall of Emirates is to house the first UAE Apple Store. The company is also reportedly planning to open a second location in the Dubai Mall, as well an Abu Dhabi store.

News of the store opening delay comes as Bloomberg reports Apple managed to get an exemption from UAE foreign ownership laws-- according to "two people with knowledge of the matter" Apple will get 100% of operation ownership in the region.

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Hackers Breach Carphone Warehouse

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Hackers Breach Carphone Warehouse

Carphone Warehouse suffers a "sophisticated cyber-attack," with hackers possibly getting access to the personal details and bank details of 2.4 million customers, as well as 90000 customer credit cards.

The breach affects the Carphone Warehouse division operating OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com and Mobiles.co.uk. Also affected are a number of services provided to iD Mobile, TalkTalk Mobile, Talk Mobile, and to certain Carphone Warehouse customers.

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Dixons Carphone Drops The Phone House Portugal

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Dixons Carphone Drops The Phone House Portugal

Dixons Carphone offloads another European unit in efforts to further focus on profitable markets as it sells The Phone House Portugal to regional telecoms retailer and wholesaler Digital Place SA.

The Phone House Portugal operates 130 stores. It also reports post-restructuring losses of £8 million for the 13 month period ending May 2015, as well as an impairment worth £13m.

The asking price? A "small cash consideration" and a "contingent deferred cash consideration measured against profitability and payable over 5 years."

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"Excellent" First Year for Dixons Carphone

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Dixons Carphone describes the first year following the merger of the two retailers as "excellent," with revenues growing by 6% and pre-tax profit increasing by 21% from £316 million to £381m in the 13 months from May 2.

Partly helping such growth is the panic buying of big-ticket items such as large-screen TVs in crisis-stricken Greece, leading to the return to profit of Greek arm Kotsovolos. The retailer also reports strong performance in the UK (Carphone Warhouse, Currys and PC World chains) and the Nordics (Elkjop and El Giganten).

As for cost-cutting exercises the year saw the disposal of the group's non-core French, German, Dutch and Portuguese operations.

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HMV Sets For M. East Expansion

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HMV Sets For M. East Expansion

Just two years following its collapse-- and eventual rescue by restructuring expert Hilco-- entertainment chain HMV feels bullish enough to set sights for international expansion, specifically in the M. East.

In what appears to be a sign of improving fortunes the retailer plans to open 15 outlets in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates through a licensing agreement with Qatari conglomerate Al Mana Lifestyle Trading. It is also looking for MEA partners in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, as well as further expansion towards Australia, China and India.

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Darty Returns to Profit

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Darty Returns to Profit

The 3rd biggest CE retailer in Europe makes it out of the red, as Darty reports fiscal 2015 (ending April 2015) profits worth €13.8 million, an improvement from the €6.6m loss seen on the previous year.

Operating profit is up from €53.4m in fiscal 2014 to €60.3m in fiscal 2015.

Such profits come despite sales dropping by 1.6% Y-o-Y due to what the retailer describes as "strong comparatives and challenging marketing conditions." However the fiscal year did see some help in the shape of lower one-off charges.

The retailer further cut losses by dropping loss-making Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Czech operations in favour of the core French, Belgian and Dutch markets.

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