British footwear retailer Russell & Bromley will reopen at Westgate Oxford on 3 September, returning to its former unit after NEXT acquired the brand through a pre-pack administration deal earlier this year.
The footwear retailer is returning to its previous lower-ground-floor location near John Lewis, which closed earlier in 2026. Westgate Oxford described the centre as one of the first locations selected for the brand’s reopening programme.
“The return of Russell & Bromley is brilliant news,” commented Clare Martin, Centre Director at Westgate Oxford.
She added that Russell & Bromley had been popular with Westgate Oxford customers and formed a valuable part of the centre’s retail mix.
The news follows just a day after Karen Millen announced that it was returning to bricks-and-mortar retail after seven years, with three UK concessions opening in TFG stores during August 2026.
NEXT rebuilds the store footprint
NEXT bought Russell & Bromley’s brand and intellectual property for £2.5 million in cash in January, alongside £1.3 million of stock. The transaction initially included three stores in London and Kent, while 33 shops and nine concessions remained with administrators Interpath.
Those locations subsequently closed in phases. Interpath’s appointment on 21 January was followed by around 332 redundancies within Russell & Bromley’s head office and store network.
NEXT has made one addition to the acquired estate. In May, the retailer reopened Russell & Bromley’s Richmond store after its lease transferred to the group, bringing it under NEXT’s management.
The Oxford reopening will provide another early indication of how selectively NEXT intends to rebuild Russell & Bromley’s physical footprint. It also returns the brand to a site that was excluded from the original transaction rather than introducing it to a new market.
Administration followed sustained losses
Founded in Sussex in 1880, Russell & Bromley entered administration after contending with declining sales, rising operating costs, inflationary pressure and weaker consumer demand.
The business owed about £59.3 million when administrators were appointed and had experience an EBITDA loss of £12.1 million in the 11 months to November 2025, before entering administration.Â
NEXT has previously acquired distressed brands including Joules and Made.com, using its ecommerce, sourcing and logistics operations to support their development. Its wholly owned brands and licences can also draw on the group’s warehouses, technology, data and customer base.
NEXT had also reportedly been considering a bid for struggling department store Harvey Nichols, which since has been acquired by Frasers Group, and British handbag brand Radley, which was later sold to the Gordon Brothers.Â
In its latest trading update from 5 August NEXT said it was now expecting its full-year pre-tax profit to be £25 million above previous estimates at £1.24 billion, which would be 7.3% higher than the year before.