M&S announce 20 new store openings, 12 food halls and the creation of 3400 new jobs
16 January 2023, 11:49
Marks & Spencer has announced it's set to open 20 new stores across the country - including 12 food halls, creating 3,400 new jobs over the next two years.
Eight large stores will open in shopping centres, retail parks and on high streets nationwide as part of the expansion.
Coming at a cost of £480 million over the next two years, the shopping centre locations are set to include Birmingham's Bullring, Manchester's Trafford Centre and Liverpool ONE.
They form part of M&S's pledge to regenerate formerly vacant sites following Debenhams' high street exit, with five of the biggest stores taking over the former department store's locations.
So far, only nine of the twenty locations have been revealed.
The new stores have been created with families in mind, with designers incorporating extra wide isles.
It followed last year's announcement from M&S in relation to the restructuring of high street stores.
The company has announced it will reduce the number of full-line stores by 67 over the next five years, bringing the total number of locations to 180.
New openings include Leeds' White Rose store at 97,000 square feet, with Liverpool ONE measuring in at 70,000 square feet - both of which are set to open in the summer of 2023.
Three other notable openings include Birmingham Bullring's 65,000 square foot site that's set to open in the autumn, alongside Manchester’s 96,000 Trafford Centre store and a 98,000 square foot store in Lakeside Thurrock which will both open this winter.
The 12 new food hall locations include Stockport, Barnsley in South Yorkshire and Largs in North Ayrshire.
M&S Chief Executive, Stuart Machin, said: "Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space.
"We're aiming to rotate from the 247 stores we have today to 180 higher-quality, higher-productivity full-line stores that sell our full clothing, home and food offer whilst also opening over 100 bigger, better food sites.
"The out-performance of our recently relocated and renewed stores give us the confidence to go faster in our plan."
The remaining store locations will be revealed in due course M&S say.
