Retail: chain store massacre

Christmas will not be cancelled for Europe’s shop owners. Desperate price slashing across the continent appears to have kept alive some spirit of festive consumption. But the death of full price retailing and the prospect of vanishing consumer spending after the January sales are storing up a whole heap of problems for next year. Operational and financial restructuring will be the order of the day. The share prices of Europe’s biggest retail brands have risen in the past month, paring losses of...