A leading fast fashion retailer is due to relocate to an ‘upsized’ store at the prime shopping centre in Reading.
Zara currently occupies a two-floor unit inside The Oracle shopping centre, selling clothing, shoes and accessories to customers.
Now, it has been announced that the fashion retailer is set to move to a new unit that was previously part of the House of Fraser department store.
The relocation has been confirmed in a trading update provided by mall owners Hammerson.
The trading update states: “We have completed the major re-letting associated with the former House of Fraser at The Oracle, having signed deals last week for a significant upsize with Zara.”
Zara will occupy the upper floor of The Oracle, which is currently obscured by the ‘Euphoria’ artwork by Epod 3000, evoking the joy of live music at Reading Festival.
News of the relocation comes after a plan to divide up the former House of Fraser into three smaller units was approved by Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee in September 2023.
House of Fraser closed a month afterwards, with Hollywood Bowl and TK Maxx being announced as the new occupants in December of that year.
TK Maxx opened at 10am today (Thursday, May 22) with shoppers queuing to get into the store.
Hollywood Bowl is due to open this summer.
The trading update also mentions that another ‘major global brand’ will be getting an upsized unit as well.
It is unclear which unit this brand will occupy, as 14 units are currently ‘to let’ according to the website Completely Retail.
That includes the former Debenhams department store, which was occupied by Next Beauty and Home from December 2020 to August 2023.
Hammerson also won approval to divide the former Debenhams into three separate units in September 2023.
The developments at The Oracle come amid plans to add 436 apartments to the mall, turning it into a place to live for the first time ever.
A floor plan for the former Debenhams store shows it being turned into a restaurant, co-working space and a leisure unit on the ground floor, and a retail unit on the first floor.
You can view the application by typing reference PL/22/1916 into the council’s planning portal. However, the web page for the application states the ‘expiry date’ was reached on April 5.
The trading update from Hammerson was headlined on the news that it has acquired Brent Cross shopping centre in North London.
The update does not mention that The Oracle Riverside has seen Mission Burrito, Gordon Ramsay Street Burger and All Bar One close this year.
