A HUGE fashion retailer is opening “new concept” stores after a wave of closures.
The Frasers Group has cut the ribbon on the latest of its new department stores combining popular brands like Sports Direct and Game.
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The company, owned by Mike Ashley, opened its newest Frasers in the Chantry Place shopping centre in Norwich on Saturday.
The stores combine several brands which are part of the Frasers Group under one roof, replacing standalone stores in some areas.
There are plans to open two further sites in Blackpool and Sheffield, the group confirmed to The Sun.
Sports Direct closed its huge store in Chantry Place earlier this month to make way for the new Frasers.
And in Blackpool Sports Direct is preparing to close its doors for good too with a 20% off sale.
The store is expected to close in November, coinciding with the new Frasers opening.
Another Sports Direct shop in Newcastle shut as well ahead of a new department store opening opposite the current one.
The openings come after a wave of closures across other brands within the group in recent months.
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Several House of Fraser stores have closed in recent months, including its Solihull site last month and its iconic store in the Howells building in Cardiff.
In February, the chain turned its store in Birmingham into an outlet, and back in January, it closed its department store in High Wycombe, two months after its store in Westfield Shepherd’s Bush.
It will also pull the shutters down on its Guildford branch on September 30.
Meanwhile designer clothing chain Choice which was bought by Frasers last year recently pulled the shutters down on its Bromley store, which will be replaced by Flannels.
Tessuti, another brand it snapped up, has also closed several stores in the past year, with its Burnley location set to reopen as Flannels too.
The new-style Frasers shops host several of Frasers Group‘s brands like Belong, USC and Evans Cycles.
In the past two years the group has opened nine Frasers stores and shoppers have taken to social media to express their excitement about the further openings.
One said: “Fantastic, I’ve missed having a decent department store.”
Another wrote: “Thank god a decent shop opening for once Flannels sell lovely stuff!”
A third commented “Thank the lord for decent shops!” and another posted “This is fab, cannot wait!”
While another said they are thrilled to see the more shops opening on the high street.
The new Frasers department store in Norwich sells various big name clothing and beauty brands including Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Boss, Levi’s and Dior.
It also features new “homeware concept” Frasers House which is selling more big name brands, as well as sofa.com offering furniture too.
Sports Direct has opened inside the department store as well, spanning a whopping 65,000 square feet.
The new concept shop first opened in Wolverhampton back in 2021 and locations have since launched in areas like Newbridge, Belfast, Middlesborough, Telford and Derby.
The new Blackpool site is opening later this year and will be located within the former Debenhams site inside the Houndshill Shopping Centre.
A spokesperson for Sports Direct said: “We are excited to be bringing the vacant Debenhams unit in Houndshill Shopping Centre back to use, providing Blackpool customers with larger, elevated stores from the Group’s ecosystem, and access to more of the world’s most aspirational brands.
“The current Sports Direct Blackpool store will relocate to a new 35,000 sq. ft Sports Direct store that will offer the world’s best sport and lifestyle brands, and feature both a Game and Evans Cycle.”
Other high street closures
The high street has been hit hard in recent years due to the growth of online shopping, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the same time the cost of living has been rising, leading to shoppers cutting back on non-essential spending.
Brick and mortar stores have also seen a lack of footfall due to consumer habits switching to online shopping.
Beloved discounter Wilko is to close all of its stores by October, with thousands of workers set for redundancy, after it collapsed into administration.
Familiar brands like M&Co and Paperchase also went under closing all of their UK shops earlier this year.
Shoezone is also set to pull the shutters down on one of its stores in its latest round of closures.
Although, some chains have managed to defy high street troubles and are actually set to open new shops.
These include discount chains like Poundland which is set to open 15 shops in the coming weeks and Greggs which is aiming to open 150 new sites this year.
Meanwhile, we’ve also rounded up all the high street chains closing sites in September.
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