Mike Ashley to bring Flannels luxury outlet to Merry Hill
Mike Ashley’s retail empire is set for a fresh investment in the Black Country – opening one of its luxury brand stores at the Merry Hill shopping centre.
Just days after Mr Ashley’s House of Fraser company confirmed it would be keeping Wolverhampton’s Beatties department store open, it can be revealed that the Sport Direct tycoon’s top drawer Flannels chain is set to open its first store at the Black Country’s biggest out-of-town shopping destination.
It will open an 11,000 sq ft unit at intu Merry Hill in December, before Christmas.
Dan Murphy, regional centre director at intu Merry Hill, said: “We’re thrilled to announce that premium fashion retailer Flannels will be joining intu Merry Hill later this year. With an increasing number of leading brands investing in new space and flourishing at the centre, customers will have even more reasons to shop with us this Christmas.”
Flannels – which sells brands including Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Moncler, Jimmy Choo, Stone Island and Kenzo – already has stores at Birmingham’s Burlington Arcade and in Solihill, among around two dozen branches nationwide, with another 11 due to open in the coming months including Merry Hill.
It comes after the opening of Merry Hill’s huge new Next store, in the redeveloped former Sainsbury supermarket site, as well as a string of other high-end stores moving to the centre.
Merry Hill’s owners, intu, are in the process of spending £100 million on improving the centre, with more restaurants and a new cinema. It is also seeing Primark expand its store to occupy part of the space left by BHS when it went out of business two years ago.
This week it was announced that Beatties in Wolverhampton would be remaining open.
Mike Ashley and his Sports Direct brand have been behind the takeover of House of Fraser, which controls Beatties.
