Harvey Norman will continue its expansion in England with another branch in the West Midlands.
The chain will also open its UK head office in the area.
The retailer will take over the former BhS store at the Gracechurch shopping centre in Sutton Coldfield. The 53,000sqft unit has been empty since the collapse of BhS in 2016.
‘The West Midlands’ high grade retail space and exceptional connectivity are two key reasons why we’ve chosen Sutton Coldfield as the home of our new UK headquarters and to launch our next store here,’ says Katie Page, Harvey Norman ceo,
‘Gracechurch will provide an excellent hub for our growing UK team and I look forward to returning to the region soon as we progress our expansion plans.’
The branch is expected to create about 100 jobs while the head office is likely to employ about 200.
The region is likely to remain the focus of the international retailer’s plans for mainland UK. ‘When we did our research on the area, the West Midlands stood out to us .We can get to a lot of people really quickly, which should help us with brand awareness and getting more people through the store. If you think about the density of the West Midlands compared to New Zealand… the West Midlands region is around 5 million people. We’ve got 46 stores in New Zealand for about 5 million people and then in Ireland, we’ve got 16 stores to about 5.2 million people,’ Lachlan Roach, Harvey Norman UK md said when the Marry Hill store opened in late 2024.
