Fashion and homeware chain Next is to open one of its biggest ever stores on the site of a former BHS at intu Metrocentre.
Owners intu will reconfigure 85,000 sq ft for Next’s latest store, doubling the fashion chain’s existing floor space when it opens in early 2018 at what is Europe’s largest shopping centre.
It will encompass space used by BHS’s intu Metrocentre outlet for 30 years until its closure this summer and is set to bring a number of new jobs to the shopping centre. A Next Home will continue to operate at intu Metrocentre’s retail park alongside the new store.
Kate Grant, regional director at intu, said: “This fantastic new space at the heart of intu Metrocentre will build on the strength of what is already one of Next’s most successful stores, allowing them to attract even more customers and create a number of new jobs.
“It’s a significant investment by Next that alongside our own investment programme and similar expansions by House of Frasier and Primark this year, represents a long-term commitment to intu Metrocentre and the north east region as a thriving retail destination.”
The work forms part of an ongoing investment programme at intu Metrocentre which has seen a refurbishment of the shopping centre’s Platinum Mall as well as an extension to its dining and leisure quarter Qube.
House of Fraser at intu Metrocentre extended its beauty hall by 2,346 sq ft as part of a £5 million refit of the ground floor and café area this year and the centre’s Primark opened a 7,739 sq ft extension to its ground and first floor levels in the summer.
