Yes, I'd noticed the same. Wiggle and Chain Reaction are also now part of Mike Ashley's growing empire. I can see that if you're a newbie it can be hard to know where to go.

I found out the hard way that you tend to get what you're paying for, so I've gravitated towards brands that are good value but not necessarily that cheap. For clothing I tend to favour Endura, which is sold by a lot of retailers. I've bought all sorts of lights over the years, but I now buy Exposure almost exclusively. Far from cheap but they've given me such good service that I don't begrudge them the extra cost - and their British, based not far from me.

As far as shops go, I can recommend Condor Cycles in London, Sigma Sport, Merlin Cycles, Tredz and Tweeks. I've also used Decathlon from time to time with pretty good results; their stuff is definitely at the lower end of the price range but, in my quite limited experience, is pretty good quality. Hope that helps.