Next would open a Russell & Bromley store at Westgate Oxford on 3 September, according to Retail Gazette. This return would mark the brand's reappearance on the high street after its disappearance from shopping streets.
Russell & Bromley, whose origins would date back to 1879, had been acquired by Next through an insolvency process in January. The group would have paid £2.5 million for the brand and intellectual property, plus a further £1.3 million for stock.
At the time of the acquisition, the chain operated 36 stores and nine concessions across the Royaume-Uni and Irlande, and employed around 440 people. Next would have initially acquired only three of these stores alongside the brand, located on Oxford Street, King's Road in Londres and at Bluewater Shopping Centre, leaving the remaining 33 stores and nine concessions to administrators Interpath. The last store still open, in Édimbourg, would have closed its doors in July.
An insolvency marked by debt
Russell & Bromley owed around £59.3 million at the time the administrators were appointed, having accumulated around £20 million in losses over the previous two years. L'enseigne would have faced declining footfall, rising operating costs and difficult trading conditions before its insolvency.
Next would now own Russell & Bromley outright, the brand being among those the group holds in full, alongside Joules, Made.com and Cath Kidston. In recent years, Next would have become an increasingly active buyer of struggling or collapsed brands, drawing on its e-commerce, logistics and sourcing infrastructure to relaunch them.
According to Clare Martin, director of the Westgate Oxford shopping centre, further Russell & Bromley stores could follow this reopening.
