UK High Street games retailer GAME is to trim its high street presence with the closure of 12 GAME stores as well as six Gamestation stores and the removal of all its Debenhams concessions.

The move will see the closure of 43 outlets in total which the group attribute to tough market conditions. Most of the closures will occur where outlets are situated close to one another.

The company also said that it plans to seek employment opportunities for all 247 affected workers.

A statement made by GAME to Edge Online said:

“We are committed to evolving our business to make sure it operates as efficiently as possible while consistently delivering the high standards of service our customers demand,”

“We regularly review our entire store portfolio, including our concessions, to maximise the opportunities to reach customers while also ensuring that the business is running as effectively as possible.

“The majority of the identified sites are located close to another one of our stores, and we will help each customer affected by a closure to transfer to their nearest store as well as our online offerings.

“We will provide extensive support to the teams in each store. However, with deep regret, we have had to offer redundancy to 247 employees. We will do our utmost to redeploy roles if possible, and have started consulting with all affected employees in the 43 sites.”

New shopping habits – most notably online shopping – may to be blame for a decline on the Great British High Street.

A Local Data Company study of nearly 700 shopping locations across the UK revealed that almost 18000 retailers had shut up shop by the end of 2009.

Margate in Kent showed the highest proportion of vacant retail premises with 1 in 4 shop fronts being boarded up while retail operations in the North East and the Midlands also showed high levels of vacancies.

Whilst changing retail habits of shoppers had a huge impact on the high street, so do did the recession with several well known chains succumbing to the effects of the economic downturn, including First Quench – who owned the Threshers, Victoria Wines and Haddows brands – and book chain Borders..

Two of the high street’s big names have announced a joint partnership to launch a new clothing range.

Boots and Mothercare have formed a strategic partnership to design, source and supply a new range of children’s clothing and accessories which will be sold exclusively in Boots stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

“We are very pleased to be extending our relationship with Mothercare,” said Alex Gourlay, chief executive of Boots’ Health & Beauty Division. “We believe this move will further strengthen our baby and child range and build on our reputation for offering great value children’s wear. This agreement demonstrates our commitment to developing strategic partnerships to grow and expand our business”.

Ben Gordon, chief executive, Mothercare, said: “We are delighted with this latest addition to our existing successful partnership with Boots. We expect this agreement to be a substantial development in our recently announced wholesale strategy. Work has already commenced on what will be a distinctive and quality product range for customers”

The partnership strengthens the relationship between the two which already sees Boots sell Mothercare’s Early Learning Centre toys in many of its stores.

Tesco has launched its first iPhone application. The app, called the Tesco Store and Product Finder, helps users to find the location of their nearest UK Tesco store (including Express and Extra stores). But, says Nick Lansley of Tesco the app also allows users to find any grocery product in that store by describing its aisle and shelf.

Available on iTunes, the app is free and available worldwide although it only works for UK stores at the moment, and only with grocery products. Currently, non-food items are not supported by the app.

Does beer count as a grocery product? Not that the author of this piece for ShoutingInDigital requires an app to tell him where the beer aisle is! But, if this app sounds useful to you here’s how to get it!

Furniture retailer Natuzzi has denied any involvement in alleged price fixing, for which has been reported to the Office of Fair Trading.

Preston-based independent furniture retailer Cresta has lodged a complaint against the Italian-based Natuzzi claiming they tried to prevent Cresta from selling goods cheaper than Natuzzi does in its stores.

Retail Week reports that Natuzzi issued a statement denying any allegations which said:

“The court will deal with all matters raised, including any allegations of resale price maintenance; allegations that Natuzzi are vigorously defending against.”

Cresta, who have sold Natuzzi goods for the past seventeen years claims it has taped conversations with Natuzzi and will pass them to the court. A Cresta spokesman also stated that they would not be bullied by the Italian firm.

Cresta has been granted an injunction preventing Natuzzi from drawing on its bank guarantee while the OFT investigates.

The news comes just a couple of days after Cary Benson, the VP of Natuzzi’s American arm resigned amid rumours that Natuzzi America had been reported to the SEc and the US Dept of Justice.

The recent national postal strike causes a huge slowdown in the growth of online sales of goods according to a study by IMRG Capgemini.

Sky News reports that the firm’s e-Retail Sales Index show that in the last week of October – when strike action was at its largest – online sales dropped by 5%, leading to a £53million fall in sales.

The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showed British shoppers spent £4.2 billion online in October, an increase of almost 12% on the same month last year.

Consumer confidence in Royal Mail’s ability to deliver goods bought online was a major factor in October’s e-retail sales values and volumes decline but with the threat of further industrial action averted in the run-up to Christmas, it is hoped that shoppers’ doubts and concerns can be alleviated.

Mike Petevinos of Capgemini said: “E-retailers must ensure they heed the October warning signs and act to reassure consumers that orders will be delivered in time for Christmas.

“With consumer confidence restored, e-retailers can get on with the real challenge of convincing consumers to spend online and resist the temptation to wait even longer for last minute discounting on the high street.”