Marks & Spencer has today announced investment in twelve brand new food stores, some with over 20k Sq ft of trading space, on former Homebase sites across England, creating over 550 new jobs.
It marks a significant step forward in M&S’s store rotation and renewal programme, focussed on having the right stores in the right place with the right space and is a key strand in the business’s transformation as it reshapes for growth.
Store rotation and renewal aims to create 420 bigger, fresher Food stores and a more productive group of 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 as well as renewing nine existing stores.
The new Food stores averaged c.15k sq ft, enabling more customers to shop the full range. In a strong year, Food sales outperformed target by c.20%.
Two new Full Line stores at Dundee and Washington Galleries opened with their Fashion, Home & Beauty sales trading 15% ahead of plan. Fosse Park was extended during the year, with Fashion, Home & Beauty trading up 20% versus last year.
This year M&S plans to open ten Food stores and two full line stores. A number of other stores will be updated to the renewal format.
This week, as part of its annual results, M&S announced that returns on new and renewed stores have been above the hurdle rates overall, trading ahead of plan for three consecutive years.
