River Island has revealed plans to double the size of its store at Milton Keynes shopping destination centre:mk and open the new regional flagship in time for Christmas trading.
The new 20,000 sq ft store will be situated at 23-25 Acorn Walk and will be designed by an in-house team. River Island customer director Josie Cartridge said the location had been a top performing one for the high street retailer.
“[…] we are looking forward to offering our customer base even more affordable and well-designed fashion in our larger store. centre:mk is a longstanding, top-performing location for River Island and increasing our presence here is a key step in our ongoing growth,” she said.
centre:mk, which is joint owned AustralianSuper and Hermes Investment Management, has also announced that eyewear specialists Acuitis will be opening its first store outside of London at the centre next month. Designed by an in-house team the 2,152 sq ft store will be situated at situated at 30 Silbury Arcade and sell designs for men, women and children.
“The new, significantly larger River Island store reaffirms centre:mk as a highly successful and sought after regional shopping destination. River Island’s flagship store will be an exciting addition to our fashion line up and follows recent successful upsizes, including JD Sports and new entrants Footasylum and Kiko. Being home to the first Acuitis store outside of the capital will be another great achievement and further complements the international brands on offer at centre:mk,” said Ed Sellick on behalf of the centre’s joint owners.
News of the openings follows Hermes Investment Management and AustralianSuper’s announcement of plans for a £60m investment in the centre, including the recently completed Sunset Walk refurbishment, as well as the revamp of Deer Walk, which launched earlier this month.
