Next has launched one of its biggest stores at intu Metrocentre in place of a former BHS.
Owner intu has worked with the fashion and homeware chain to reconfigure space previously occupied by BHS for an impressive 78,000 sq ft flagship store over two levels.
It is more than double the size of Next’s former intu Metrocentre store and will be officially opened today (Tuesday 6th March) by Sir John Hall, whose company Cameron Hall Developments first developed the popular Gateshead shopping destination in the 1980s. The store boasts all of the latest fashion collections for womens, mens and childrenswear, a home department and a Costa Coffee.
The work to create the new store follows a period of investment by intu which has led to the refurbishment of the centre’s Platinum Mall for its most aspirational retailers as well as the creation and extension of a successful dining quarter.
Mark Russell at Next said: “We’ve invested a significant amount at intu Metrocentre to ensure that our new store is really worth the wait. The new concepts we have are amazing and we believe that all customers are going to love what we have in store.”
Kate Grant, regional managing director at intu, said “This substantial upsizing at intu Metrocentre reflects the growing appreciation we’re seeing among retailers for the best physical stores in the right locations as they seek to rationalise their store portfolios and gain access to a higher proportion of their target customers.
“We have worked closely with Next to build this fantastic new store at the heart of intu Metrocentre and this forms part of intu’s ongoing asset management strategy to evolve and enhance our centres into retail destinations where customers and retailers want to be.”
Another key Next store will open at intu Merry Hill in the West Midlands later this year following work to convert a Sainsbury’s unit into a state-of-the-art 75,680 sq ft store. intu Merry Hill’s former BHS unit will also become part of a larger Primark store in line with expansion plans announced in January while sports brand Decathlon now occupies space that was once a BHS store at west London shopping destination intu Uxbridge.