After an apparently successful trial in five stores, T Mobile and Orange stores across the country are set to be rebranded as Everything Everywhere (which is the two brands' new umbrella name if you didn't already know) but the two brands themselves will remain separate with differing contracts and deals. At least that means one less phone shop on the high street.
From what I've seen of the trial stores, they look lot like the concepts that Mary Portas came up with for FoneHouse; lots of glass and wood, comfy sofas and live products to trial and test, much nicer than the Orange shops that I've been in lately.
Also, not exactly high street, but Coffee Nation who run those awful instant coffee vending machines in service stations have been bought up by Whitbread and will be rebranded as
Costa Express; a great plan in my eyes because Costa is seen as a much more premium brand. They also want to effectively triple the size of the business by opening another 2000 machines over the next five years, while also improving the quality of the coffee to near barista standards. Wahoo.