Last month the retailer confirmed plans to switch its focus to food-only stores, shifting away from its current shop format which includes home and clothing ranges.
Marks and Spencer branches currently exist in their hundreds across the UK, with around 247 of them trading more than just food items.
However, this will be reduced to just 180 by 2028, with a handful of stores ready to be shut down this month.
A total of 67 stores are expected to be axed although more than 100 M&S Foodhall sites are expected to open alongside widespread store closures.
M&S has confirmed the closure of one store this month and it’s believed a further nine stores will follow.
Marks and Spencer stores closing in April
The popular British brand has confirmed the closure of one store this month at the Queensgate Shopping Centre, Peterborough. Shoppers will be able to visit the store up until the week of its closing date on April 20, 2024.
On the closure, regional manager Craig Burton said: “Shopping habits are changing, so we’re rotating our store estate to make sure we have the right stores to offer customers. In recent years, we have invested over £31million in our stores in the East of England and we look forward to working with the local council to bring forward plans for further future investment into Peterborough and the wider local area.”
It’s not all bad news for M&S fans in Peterborough, however, as the nearby stores at the Brotherhood Shopping Park and the Foodhall at Serpentine Green will remain open as usual.
Shoppers in Cheltenham were the first to bid farewell to a store at the Kingsditch Trading Estate on Tewkesbury Road.
The Marks and Spencer Home store closed over Easter, bringing the curtain down on its home furnishing business at the retail park.
According to the retailer, all store staff will temporarily move to work at the town centre store and nobody has been made redundant, as a new store is expected to replace the Tewkesbury Road site in 2025.
Earlier this year, Ali Ivery, Regional Manager for M&S said: “We’re excited to announce a multi-million-pound investment in a brand-new, bigger, better M&S Foodhall at the Centrum retail park in Cheltenham, which will offer local customers a much wider range of M&S Food products.
“The new 15,000 sqft store will be 50 percent bigger than our current offer with a fresh market-style Foodhall and a range of new features including displays of great quality, trusted value produce from M&S Select Farms and a show-stopping new M&S Bakery offering fresh daily-baked bread and pastries.”
Approximately nine more stores will follow the closure of the Peterborough branch, including:
- Neath, Wales – May 2024
- Aberdeen, Scotland – 2025
- Weymouth – exact date to be confirmed
- Sunderland – exact date to be confirmed
- Walworth, London – 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
