Another High Street Rebrand

[gottago]

The weird WHSmith/M&S Food hybrid on Tottenham Court Road remains WHS branded. I think it's technically a hospital shop within hospital property, despite it very much presenting as part of the high street, which probably explains why it continues.

[cwathen]

I've seen better temporary signs, if I'm honest...

the former John Menzies in Glasgow's Argyle Street:

The banner outside is barmy: "We're not WHSmith! But we still stock all the WHSmith stock you're loooking for in the not-WHSmith"

Those banners seem to be relatively new. Took a piccie of one in Taunton a few weeks ago as it was the first I'd seen but now they seem to be everywhere. Would've thought they should've been out in the summer when the sale and rebrand first happened...unless it's not quite working out that well and it is felt that some clarification is necessary.

Although this was raised and discussed before, I'm not sure exactly why a licence to use the WHSmith brand name on the Modello acquisitions in the UK couldn't have gone with it to avoid the rather rubbish rebrand. No one cares that a railway station has a small shop branded as WHSmith, nor that they are using that brand in other markets. In the UK high street, it was an incredibly long lived and recognisable name...so surely Smiths would be happy to make some dollar on licencing the branding out, and Modello would be happy to not have to rebrand an entire store estate whilst also get to trade off an existing name without customers feeling much of anything had changed. If it's about 'but what about damage to our brand image if it goes bust?'...well WHSmith literally went from ubiquitous to non existent on the high street in the space of about a month, and just 1 year ago no one knew this would happen. Unsure how it would be any different if TJ Jones didn't happen and a Modella-run WHSmith retail chain collapsed in a few years.

And does anyone else somehow get TJ Hughes vibes from TG Jones as a brand?