Flannels and Sports Direct secure Next Beauty & Home store for new flagship

The 130,000 sq ft space in the shopping centre’s Red Mall will be home to both a Flannels and a Sports Direct when it opens next year.

Flannels, Frasers Group’s high-end department store fascia, will take 70,000 sq ft on the ground floor, with Sports Direct occupying the remaining 60,000 sq ft on the first floor. 

Frasers has agreed to a 15-year lease on the unit.  

Flannels currently occupies a 5,000 sq ft unit in the Upper Red Mall on the west side of the complex, while Sports Direct operates a retail warehouse elsewhere in Gateshead, both of which will close when the new store opens. 

Next only launched its Beauty & Home store in the Metrocentre in October 2020, after former occupier Debenhams crashed into administration. 

The fashion giant will now consolidate its home and beauty propositions into its existing Next store in the Green Mall.

The move raises questions over Next’s long-term plans for its Beauty & Home format, though the retailer insisted it would continue operating the remaining three standalone stores in Reading, Milton Keynes and Watford. 

Next added that its deal at the Metrocentre was only a short-term lease and said it had been served notice by the landlord.

Graeme Jones, director at asset manager Sovereign Centros, which advised Metrocentre on the deal, said: “These lettings will create a new destination point for the centre’s Red Mall. The store sits on one of the main entrances to the centre and is therefore important from a visual presentation perspective. 

“The transaction completes a major element of our business plan, leasing up surplus former department store space.”

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