Six stores will close by the end of April and brake put on food openings
As part of its transformation plan, M&S has identified a second tranche of store closures. Six stores will close by the end of April: Birkenhead, Bournemouth, Durham, Fforestfach, Putney and Redditch. A further eight stores are earmarked for potential closure: Andover, Basildon, Bridlington, Denton (Outlet), Falmouth, Fareham, Keighley and Stockport.
M&S has also reduced its Simply Food opening programme, and now only plans to open a total of 36 owned and franchise stores over the next six months. New locations will include Broadstone, Streatham Hill and St Albans.
The company announced plans in November 2016 to reposition as much as 25 per cent of its clothing & home space through a combination of closures, downsizes, relocations and conversions to food-only stores. M&S currently has 1,025 stores in the UK: 302 Clothing, Home and Food, 684 Food-only and 39 Outlets.
Sacha Berendji, director of retail at Marks & Spencer said, “We’re committed to transforming M&S for our customers, colleagues and shareholders. Stores will always be an integral part of our customer experience, alongside M&S.com, but we have to ensure we have the right offer in the right locations.”
