New names set for The Oracle
THE Oracle is to welcome two big names to replace the closed House of Fraser store.
Family entertainment company Hollywood Bowl and fashion retailer TK Maxx will be opening in the space.
The arrival of these retailers has been revealed in floor plans of The Oracle on the Completely Retail marketing website.
Hollywood Bowl will occupy the Riverside level of the former House of Fraser unit, which will be divided into three after the shopping centre’s owners Hammerson won approval for division plans in September.
The bowling chain has been hoping to open in Reading for years, as it submitted a licensing application to open until 1am each night back in 2020.
However, House of Fraser continued to occupy the unit for over three years before finally closing on Sunday, October 29.
Meanwhile, TK Maxx will be opening at the lower ground level next to H&M and Bakers + Barristas cafe.
TK Maxx has two existing stores in Reading, one in Broad Street Mall and the other at Reading Gate Retail Park.
A spokesperson was unable to provide details about when the store in The Oracle will open, and what will be happening to the two existing stores.
The site plan also provides some insights into what is happening elsewhere in the shopping centre.
The Handmade Burger Co is seen twice in the plan, despite closing in 2020.
The burger chain branding is seen both for its currently closed unit next to Cote Brasserie, and in unit L10 next to Hollister in the lower mall.
A licensing application for Handmade Burger Co was approved in 2022, but the company has not opened a restaurant in The Oracle since.
Meanwhile, the vacant Lemoni Greek restaurant and the lower and upper floors of the former Debenhams unit are both shown as being ‘available to let’.
The Debenhams closed in 2020 when the department store firm ceased trading.
The unit was taken over by Next Beauty & Home, which itself closed in August this year.
When The Oracle was built in 1999, the retail scene was very different, and it was conceived with big department stores at each end of the site, complementing the Heelas store on Broad Street.
The Broad Street entrance used to be the town’s Debenhams store.
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