Sainsbury's raises profit outlook as Waitrose opens its first new supermarket in eight years
Grocery results and a new Waitrose store lead the day, alongside eBay job cuts, falling consumer confidence and new crime figures for shops.
In brief
- Sainsbury's has raised its full-year profit guidance after a 3.6 per cent rise in underlying operating profit to £525m, despite a £164m loss Grocery Gazette Retail Gazette.
- Waitrose has opened its first new supermarket in eight years, in Cricklewood, north London, and confirmed plans for four more new stores Completely Retail.
- eBay is to cut about 9% of its workforce, or around 1,000 roles. This is its second round of job losses this year TheIndustry.fashion.
- BRC-Opinium data shows consumer expectations for the economy over the next three months worsened to -40 in October, down from -34 Talking Retail.
- ONS figures show a 2% decrease in shoplifting to 519,516 offences Talking Retail, while more than 30,000 business robberies were recorded in the year to June 2026 Better Retailing.
Money and results
Sainsbury's has published its interim results for 2026-27 Sainsbury's. It raised its full-year profit guidance as grocery sales grew Grocery Gazette Retail Gazette. TheIndustry.fashion reports that it raised the lower end of its forecast, and that its Tu clothing business "outperforms" the clothing market despite a sales dip TheIndustry.fashion.
Consumer confidence has tumbled before the Budget against a backdrop of rising inflation and ongoing geopolitical tensions TheIndustry.fashion. Separately, pressure is mounting to tax online retail more heavily in the upcoming Autumn Budget InternetRetailing.
In luxury, Prada Group sales rose 12% following its Versace acquisition, with organic growth of 4% TheIndustry.fashion. Moncler Group's Q3 revenue was flat at €605.5m at cFX, with subdued tourist spending and weaker European demand affecting direct sales Retail Insight Network.
Stores and openings
The new Waitrose in Cricklewood is 18,000 sq ft and part of the retailer's current £1bn investment programme Grocery Gazette Retail Gazette. ProCook has signed a lease for 2,241 sq ft at Derbion for its first store in Derby Completely Retail. Only has made its London debut at Outlet Shopping at The O2 Retail Gazette. Lane7 has opened its second Sheffield venue at Meadowhall Completely Retail, and VANILLA has opened a new store at The Centre, Livingston Retail Times.
Further ahead, Build-A-Bear Workshop is set to open a store experience inside Hard Rock Cafe in London's Piccadilly Circus Retail Gazette. The first Pokémon store outside Asia is expected to open in London in 2029 Retail Gazette. Abroad, Primark has entered Qatar with a store at Doha Festival City, in partnership with Alshaya Group Retail Insight Network.
Jobs and people
eBay's cuts are reported to be aimed at redirecting capital into higher-growth commercial divisions Retail Insight Network. Former Amazon and Target executive Liz Gebhard is now Chief Transformation and Data Officer at World of Books, after a year as Interim Transformation Officer Retail Technology Innovation Hub. Castell Howell Foods has reached 1,000 employees Wholesale Manager. The Lede Company has acquired Aisle 8, and founder Lauren Winslade brings her 21-strong team with her TheIndustry.fashion.
For store teams, the ACS has highlighted increasingly violent shop theft in the latest figures Talking Retail. The Fed has questioned whether falling theft figures tell the full story Talking Retail. A two-week Met Police crackdown on rogue retailers in London led to 42 arrests and closure notices for 11 shops Talking Retail, with 400 shops targeted Better Retailing.
Our take
Today's openings run from stores already trading to one expected in 2029, so if a new location interests you, check when it actually opens before planning around it. If you work on the shop floor, the crime figures are a good prompt to make sure you know your employer's procedures for reporting incidents and staying safe. There are 18,939 live jobs on The Retail Appointment today, including 1,207 at Next, 648 at M&S, 617 at Aldi and 279 at Lidl.
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