Here’s how to help bricks and mortar retailers as they prepare to reopen

The sector’s hurting. It’s time to remove the business rate holiday from the supermarkets while extending it for the twice locked down ‘non-essential’ stores, James Moore writes

Shuttered shops: and they’ll remain that way until Wednesday, having missed out on the Black Friday bean fest  (AFP via Getty)

Amid the hype, the excitable predications of record Christmas spending, the super duper Black Friday bargain bonanza, there was Arcadia.

As the first ever online-only event dawned, Sir Philip Green’s troubled retail empire found itself on the brink of collapse with thousands of jobs at risk.

Online outlets had sensibly spread their offers out with the aim of preventing logjams, but business was still brisk. It will doubtless continue to be that way during today’s “cyber Monday”, otherwise known as JeffBezosNeedsANewYachtDay.