Homeware and fashion retailer Next is bucking the retail gloom by opening a new flagship store in a revamped Essex shopping centre.
The store is the main attraction in the Victoria Centre in Southend High Street, which has recently undergone a £22m makeover to enclose the 1960s structure.
The new store has 13,000 square feet of trading space and is four times bigger than the store it replaced in Southend High Street.