Frasers store ‘fantastic news’ for city
HUGE NEW SHOP TO FILL VOID LEFT BY DEBENHAMS CLOSURE
DERBY leaders and city shoppers have cheered the news that a new department store is coming to the Derbion centre.
Frasers will be opening next year in the shopping centre’s biggest unit, which has been empty since Debenhams closed in May. Separately, Frasers Group is also taking the former Topshop unit on Level 2 of Derbion, with its luxury retail brand Flannels.
Derby City Council described it as “fantastic news” for the city and John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, said: “It’s hard to underestimate how important this is for the city.”
A NEW department store is to open in the huge store vacated by Debenhams at Derbion.
The Derby shopping centre’s biggest unit has been empty since Debenhams closed for the final time in early May.
Less than four months after it shut its doors, Frasers Group, headquartered in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, has signed a deal which will see a Frasers department store open there next year.
Debenhams had been one of the shopping centre’s flagship stores from when it first opened as Westfield in 2007, having relocated from Victoria Street.
The new store will have 127,000 sq ft of retail space spanning three floors – space enough for more than 40 tennis courts.
Frasers is the luxury offshoot of House of Fraser, which was acquired by Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley’s group in a £90 million administration deal in August 2018.
House of Fraser has never had a presence in Derby.
The UK’s first Frasers store opened in Wolverhampton in April, with the new Derby store set to be the first to open in the East Midlands region.
Within the new store, there will be a beauty hall and areas dedicated to stocking men’s, women’s and children’s fashion from hundreds of brands.
A Sports Direct store will also operate on one of the three floors, meaning Derbion’s existing Sports Direct outlet on Level 1 will close when Frasers opens in 2022.
Separately, Frasers Group has confirmed that it will also take the former Topshop unit on Level 2, with luxury retailer Flannels taking up the 24,000 sq ft space there.
Set to open by the end of this year, Flannels, acquired by Frasers Group in 2017, stocks designer brands including Balenciaga, Gucci and Jimmy Choo.
Completing the significant deal, Frasers Group has confirmed it will
also take a further 50,000 sq ft of retail space, which housed the former BHS department store in St Peter’s Street.
Earlier this year, a planning application went in to turn the store into a House of Fraser designer outlet and Evans Cycles, though bosses at Derbion
say details of the identities of the stores opening there have not yet been finalised.
Once all three stores are open, Frasers Group will operate in 20% of the floor space available across the whole centre.
Adam Tamsett, general manager of Derbion, said: “There is no doubt the last year has been challenging for our sector, but it comes with opportunity. “The retail landscape is continuing to shift, and our ambitious plans for the centre complement the rapid changes that retailers are facing.
The significant investment planned for the centre further signals the complete confidence that we have in Derby. Adam Tamsett
“By taking an agile, forwardthinking approach, the team has been able to secure 200,000 sq ft of new leasings this year, an incredible feat given the current climate.
“It’s particularly rewarding to be able to announce our exciting partnership with the Frasers Group, with their headquarters not far from us in Shirebrook, and we’re looking forward to welcoming their popular brands to Derbion.
“The significant investment planned for the centre further signals the complete confidence that we have in Derby.
“With many significant, multimillion pound projects happening on our doorstep, £15 million secured as part of the Future High Street Fund and the recent announcement that Derby will be bidding to become the UK’s City of Culture in 2025, the future is very bright.”
The new stores announced this week will follow Tommy Hilfiger, which opened in June, and Mango, which is set to open in November, in arriving at Derbion.
After a long-running saga, online clothing giant Boohoo confirmed in January it had bought the Debenhams brand for £55 million and will relaunch the department store as an online-only operation.
The 242-year-old retailer had closed all of its UK stores by midMay, including the Derbion branch and the store in Chesterfield.