A MAJOR retailer has announced it is closing one of its stores in Reading shopping centre The Oracle.
Next Beauty and Home moved into the former Debenhams store in December 2020, but it will bring down the shutters for the final time next month.
A spokesperson for Next said: “We can confirm that our NEXT Beauty & Home store in Reading will cease trade on Saturday, August 12.”
The store has been identified as ‘at risk’ since last summer, when The Oracle shopping centre’s part-owners Hammerson unveiled plans to transform the eastern portion of the centre. Under these plans, 449 apartments would be built and parts of the retail mix would be shaken up.
Hammerson’s planning agents Turley revealed that Next Beauty & Home was due to vacate the former Debenhams unit by September this year.
Currently, the floorspace used by next is preserved in a planning condition dating back to 1997 when plans for The Oracle were approved.
The application to remove this condition can be found by visiting Reading Borough Council’s website and searching for reference 230682.
That is separate from the plan to add 449 flats to the centre, which involve the partial demolition of the former Debenhams unit so 202 apartments can be build. To see this, search for reference 221916 on the council website.
