M&S to open 12 new stores in former Homebase sites

Marks and Spencer is set to open 12 brand new food stores on former Homebase sites across England, in a move that will create over 550 new jobs.

The openings form part of M&S’s store rotation and renewal programme, which aims to create 420 “bigger, fresher” food stores and transform 180 full line stores, with half of the estate expected to be in the renewal format by 2027/28.

Last year M&S opened six food stores and two full line stores, whilst renewing nine existing stores. 

This year, the group plans to open 10 food stores and two full line stores, and a “number” of other stores will see a renewed format. 

The new stores, some with over 20k Sq ft of trading space, will include sites in Abingdon, Cannock, Northampton, Farnham and Godalming, with the Godalming site expected to be the largest standalone food store to date. 

The features of M&S renewal stores include larger car parks, “bright and welcoming” entrances, new Coffee Bakeries, wider, more spacious aisles and expanded frozen sections.

All store plans are subject to planning permission. 

M&S CEO Stuart Machin said: “Investing in new and renewed stores is one of our key transformation priorities. Securing these highly desirable sites in priority locations will accelerate this strategy, drive further growth in our M&S food business and most importantly give our customers the best possible M&S shopping experience.”

News of the openings come shortly after M&S warned it faces a £300m hit to next year’s profits amid ongoing disruption from a major cyber attack.

It added that it expects online disruption to continue throughout June and into July, which will also mean increased stock management costs in the second quarter.

Since the incident, Food sales have been impacted by reduced availability, while the group has also incurred additional waste and logistics costs due to the need to operate manual processes, impacting profit in the first quarter.

The group nonetheless reported its highest profits in over 15 years for FY25, with pre-tax profits up by 22.2% to £875.5m in its full-year results.

In the year ended 29 March 2025, which marked a third consecutive year of growth, Food sales rose by 8.7% to £9bn, while Fashion, Home and Beauty sales rose by 3.5% to £4.2bn.