Next is to roll out its new shopfit to all new space and about 12 per cent of its existing 460 stores over the next year, following the opening of a flagship at Sheffield’s Meadowhall last week.

Next’s 44,000 sq ft Meadowhall store was based on the prototype unveiled at Bluewater in the summer. It has a central atrium with an escalator and chandelier formed from outsized glass balls and a 16,000 sq ft womenswear department on the ground floor.

Next chief executive Simon Wolfson said: “This is the best store that we have opened for several years and I think it sets the standard.” He said the roll-out would begin next year and that cosmetic differences would be apparent for shoppers, because the same colour scheme will be adopted across the chain.

Other elements of the new design include internally illuminated plinths for the mannequins that are arranged catwalk-style around the store, black and white fashion-shoot graphics and a men’s shoe department, decorated with a bespoke print of the local industrial landscape. The ground floor also houses a childrenswear offer, while upstairs features menswear and homewares.

Wolfson said the cost of rolling out the Dalziel + Pow-designed format would be about£140 a sq ft. However, he added that the Meadowhall branch had cost more than this because many of the pieces of equipment were prototypes. Next relocated to the two-floor shop in Meadowhall from a smaller site next door to Debenhams at the other end of the shopping centre.

Another new-look Next store opened at the Westfield Centre in Derby this week and a shop at the Silverburn development in Glasgow is due to launch later this month.

Topics