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.

Las Iguanas, the Latin American restaurant group, has taken over the lease of the former Henry’s bar and restaurant on Quayside, Cambridge. Cheffins negotiated the deal on behalf of Magdalene College.

Thirty-nine jobs have been saved at La Senza stores in Cambridge, Norwich and Colchester UK but 15 jobs at a second Cambridge store and in Ipswich have been lost after administrator KPMG sold part of the stricken lingerie business to a Korean-based retail group.

Cambridge based independent, womenswear boutique, Boudoir Femme moves into new premises this month, roughly doubling the size of its current store.

Up and coming King’s Lynn shoe company Oliveira is joining the ranks of Britain’s flourishing online fashion industry by launching its first collection of shoes via a virtual shop.

The battle of the supermarkets in central Cambridge looks set to continue in 2012 with two of the market leaders going head-to-head at the city’s Leisure Park with confirmation by property consultancy Carter Jonas of the letting of 4,300 sq ft of space to Sainsbury’s.

Despite household budgets being squeezed throughout 2011, Cambridge shoppers are expected to loosen the purse-strings and splash out in favour of festive cheer this Christmas.

By value, over half of all general merchandise retail sales will be influenced by the internet this Christmas, according to business advisory firm Deloitte.

Andrew Kerry, founder of the Mattressman retail chain has branched out into the world of technology by launching a new computer tablet – the ‘Andy Pad’.

An iconic Malaysian company only in Britain through Harrods in Knightsbridge has opened its first dedicated UK retail outlet in Cambridge.

Two Norfolk UK entrepreneurs have joined forces to launch a pioneering music retail brand which caters exclusively for left-handed players.

Bedfordshire fashion firm DSL Licensing is going global with help from UK Trade & Investment.