The East of England’s troubled retail sector has received a timely boost.

The Hughes Electrical Group is investing more than £600,000 to create a flagship store in Lowestoft.

Krazy Horse, a Suffolk-based dealership that builds desire-quenching custom bikes for enthusiasts from the East of England, has opened a new multi-million pound motorcycle facility that will attract visitors from all over the UK.

US lingerie company, Victoria’s Secret has opened its first UK airport Beauty and Accessories store at London Stansted.

An electrical retailer has broken the cycle of doom that has engulfed UK retailers at the start of 2013 by opening a new store in Cambridge that is double the size of the previous one!

Brookgate, the mixed-use development company, has completed three new retail lettings for the CB1 development in Cambridge city centre to local restaurant Le Gros Franck, retail chain Co-op and Costa Coffee.

A Commercial Market Survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published in the summer identified an increasing drift by a number of retail landlords towards offering incentives to encourage occupiers.

Savills, on behalf of HDD Stanground Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Development Securities Plc, has sold the Cardea District Centre in Stanground, Peterborough to a Self-Invested Pension Plan (SIPP) managed by London and Cambridge Properties for £1.025 million.

John Lewis at home and Waitrose say that their new Ipswich shops, co-located on Crane Boulevard opposite the Euro Retail Park, will open to customers for the first time at 9am on Thursday November 8.

The Cambridge Satchel Company has won a High Court battle against its former manufacturer over Intellectual Property infringement.

Success has come in cycles for one of the oldest businesses in Cambridge whose resilience provides a welcome cheer in these tough days for the retail sector.

Cambridge appears to be bucking the trend outlined in a recent national report by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The report said that 11 per cent more agents reported a fall in demand from retailers.

The East of England Co-operative, the largest independent retailer in East Anglia, has increased pre-tax profits and revenues in the last financial year.

Its satchels are in eight windows at Bloomingdales and selling in Saks Fifth Avenue. It broke sales of $400,000 in the US in February. Not bad for a company started by an anxious mother with £600 collateral from a ‘factory’ otherwise known as her kitchen table!

Carter Jonas has been appointed to let a former bridal shop in Cambridge.

Julian Welch, national head of retail at Lambert Smith Hampton, considers the state of the retail sector following a very tough Christmas.