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Marks and Spencer has announced a £480m plan to invest in 20 “bigger and better” stores over the next two years.
The new store pipeline for 2023/24 includes eight full line destination stores in key city locations. These include a new 97k sq ft store in Leeds White Rose and a 70k sq ft store in Liverpool ONE both due to open in Summer 2023.
All five new stores will be relocated to former Debenhams sites – part of M&S’ investment to regenerate currently vacant sites.
Alongside full line sites, M&S has planned investment in 12 new food halls across the UK. These include a 16k sq ft store in Stockport opening in Summer 2023, a 12k sq ft store in Barnsley opening in Autumn 2023.
The company believes that this plan will create over 3,400 new jobs in the UK and ROI.
Stuart Machin, CEO, said: “Stores are a core part of M&S’s omni-channel future and serve as a competitive advantage for how customers want to shop today. 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.”
He added: “The out performance of our recently relocated and renewed stores, give us the confidence to go faster in our plan. Our investment in stores not only delivers a better experience for customers and colleagues, it boosts local communities with new job creation and will help us deliver a more sustainable estate in every sense.”
