River Island and Next join Oracle line-up

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 26, 2018

The ongoing move of fashion retailers from high street stores to malls and retail parks can be seen from news that big names Next and River Island are to debut at The Oracle shopping centre in Reading, relocating from their historic positions in the town’s Broad Street.

At the same time, landlord Hammerson said Debenhams is undergoing a full store refresh, the first phase of which has already completed.

Next’s move to The Oracle sees it upsizing into a new 29,500 sq ft store, which makes it ones of the mall's biggest retailers. The extra space will allow it to add a much wider offer across all of its key categories, fashion, home and accessories.

Meanwhile, River Island’s new 11,500 sq ft store will become one of its flagships and Hammerson said it’s planning to use the extra space to implement its “impressive and innovative fit-out and concepts, which have proved popular with customers across the UK.” The retailers also said it was attracted by the strong tenant mix at the centre.

Hammerson has been investing heavily in The Oracle and its upgrade programme is now in its final phase, with the Next, River island and Debenhams moves among the most important developments to come out of this investment.