Marks and Spencer’s closures start as early as next week with the outlet in Cheltenham initially going, as it intends to concentrate more on its food-only stores
Marks and Spencer has upset many shoppers by announcing plans to close more stores – and the locations are revealed on our new map.
The supermarket chain announced it would be closing 67 of its stores over the next five years back in October 2022, part of a plan to close 110 sites. The latest closures are expected to begin as early as next week.
M&S is planning to concentrate more on its food-only stores and cut down its “full line” branches that stock home and clothing items. The supermarket previously said it wants to reduce its number of “full line” stores from 247 down to 180 by 2028. But it’s not all bad news as the retail giant plans to open 104 new Simply Food shops.
If these plans go ahead, it will see an increase in M&S’s Simply Food sites from 316 to 420. The company will invest £480 million in its “store rotation programme”, leading to approximately 3,400 jobs being created. M&S had its biggest-ever store opening month in November 2023, with nine new or refurbished shops revealed.
M&S boss Stuart Machin said the company is focused on “making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space”. He said: “We’re aiming to rotate… 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.” You can see the locations of the stores set to close on our interactive map below.
Mr Machin added: “The out-performance of our recently relocated and renewed stores gives 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.”
M&S hasn’t released information on all the stores it plans to close, but based on local reports, we know some of the branch locations. In some cases, staff have been told of a proposal to close their store, but a final decision has not yet been made.
The stores due to close soon are:
- Cheltenham – March 30, 2024
- Peterborough – April 2024
- Aberdeen, Scotland – 2025
- Weymouth – exact date to be confirmed
- Sunderland – exact date to be confirmed
- Hexham – exact date to be confirmed
- Bradford – exact date to be confirmed
- Ilford – exact date to be confirmed
- Blackburn – exact date to be confirmed
- Walworth – exact date to be confirmed
