Next launches one of its biggest stores yet at Gateshead's intu Metrocentre

Next has launched one of its biggest stores at intu Metrocentre, Gateshead.

This is in place of a former BHS store. Owner, intu has worked with the fashion and homeware chain, Next, to reconfigure space previously occupied by BHS for a 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 (March 6) by Sir John Hall, whose company Cameron Hall Developments first developed the popular Gateshead shopping destination in the 1980s.

Mark Russell, of 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.”

The store includes its usual pick of fashion for women, men and children, as well as a home department and 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 dining quarter.

Kate Grant, regional managing director at intu, added: “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.

“We have worked closely with Next to build this 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.”

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