Next is planning a new £5.2 million store in Dundee that will bring 125 new jobs to the city two years after a similar project was controversially rebuffed by the city council.
The fashion and homeware chain would close one of its two city centre stores as part of the project.
No jobs will be lost in the move and Next is confident a new tenant can be attracted to the unit it would vacate at Gallagher Retail Park.
The project is to a large extent a re-run of a bid Next made three years ago for a major £4.3m upgrade of its Kingway West unit.
That plan was rejected by the city council over concerns about the impact on city centre retailing of Next reducing its presence in central Dundee.
The authority was also troubled by Next’s insistence on selling fashionwear at Kingsway West.
Instead, Next took the home and garden store it had earmarked for Kingsway West to Kirkcaldy.
The company has revived and enhanced those plans with the support of the retail park’s new owners, US-based Ares Management.
Next is offering a new store combining extended home, garden centre, conservatory and fashion ranges as well as a coffee shop under one roof.
It has 10 such stores trading successfully across the UK and Dundee is one of a number in the pipeline.
It would be in the vacant Harvey’s furniture unit which has lain empty for 18 months.
Next would close its Gallagher and existing Kingsway West units. The 77 staff from these two stores would be moved to the new store which at some 30,000 square feet would be almost double their combined size.
There would be 125 new employees which, when added to the staff at Next’s store in the Overgate Centre, would give the company a total Dundee workforce of 258.
Next also estimate that the creation of the new store would support more than 100 construction jobs.
Peter Gee, Next UK regional estates manager, said: “In return for planning consent, Next is offering to legally commit to maintaining a presence within the city centre for the full term of its lease at the Overgate until December 2024.
“Next see the new store extending their catchment and attracting additional customers into Dundee.”
As for the fashionwear issue, Tesco has already been allowed to sell clothes at its Kingsway West store a circumstance that could be seen as a precedent.
Next, whose representatives visited Dundee on Monday, intend to submit a formal planning application later this month.