A number of questions asking about the store rotation programme with specific stores mentioned including Liverpool, Aylesbury, Solihull and Princes Risborough and some concern about M&S leaving city centres for out-of-town locations. Why is M&S [EXPAND]

A number of questions asking about the store rotation programme with specific stores mentioned including Liverpool, Aylesbury, Solihull and Princes Risborough and some concern about M&S leaving city centres for out-of-town locations. Why is M&S moving away from city centre locations, in some cases abandoning the city completely?
 

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 24:02.  

We are not abandoning city centres and have lots of stores on city high streets and in shopping centres. 

Store rotation is about making sure M&S has the right stores, of the right size in the right place and the strategy is working with brighter, fresher, better renewal stores achieving double digit sales uplifts.  

Liverpool is a good example. We relocated from an old store requiring significant investment into a modern city centre renewal, reducing C&H space by 39%, Food space by 18% and yet customer numbers increased by almost 25% in C&H and we saw bigger baskets across Food and Clothing.  

So, the right location is important for customers and for our business whether that’s city centre, high street, shopping centre or retail park.  

At the AGM we announced two brand new city centre M&S stores in Bristol and Bath – a £38m investment in these great cities. This demonstrates that where we can develop the right stores for customers we will stay in city centres. 

2024

Source: marksandspencer.com