M&S has announced plans to open 20 new stores in its next financial year as part of a £480m investment programme to deliver ‘bigger, better’ stores across the UK.
At a recent investor day, the retailer said it intends to accelerate a five-year store rotation programme and target a delivery within three years – by 2025-26 – after sales at new and recently renewed stores had exceeded expectations.
M&S said that the performance of recently relocated stores had performed particularly strongly, with payback on net capital investment within two years and this had given it the confidence to accelerate the store rotation programme, which would deliver a £309m reduction in lease lability to the retailer.
It intends to open eight ‘full line destinations’ in key city locations, including a new 97,000 sq ft store in Leeds White Rose and a 70,000 sq ft store at Liverpool ONE, which are due to open this summer. Later this year, a new 65,000 sq ft store will open at Birmingham Bullring, a 96,000 sq ft store will open in Manchester’s Trafford Centre and a 98,000 sq ft store will open in Lakeside Thurrock.
All five of these stores will be relocated to the sites of former Debenhams department stores, which M&S said was part of its investment to regenerate currently vacant sites.
Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, said: “Stores are a core part of M&S’s omni-channel future and serve as a competitive advantage for how customers want to shop today. Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space and we’re aiming to rotate from the 247 stores we have today 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.
“The out performance of our recently relocated and renewed stores, give 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 store investment activity in financial year 2022/2023:
New full line store:
- Stevenage (opened 28 April 2022)
- Colchester (opened 7 Sep 2022)
- Chesterfield (opened 30 Nov 2022)
Brand new foodhall stores include:
- Canary Wharf Cross Rail Place (2 Nov 2022)
- Battersea Power Station (10 Nov 2022)
- Harrogate Oatlands (29 Nov 2022) – extension
- Macclesfield (30 Nov 2022)
Full renewals include:
- London Colney (opened 2 December 2022)
- Liffey Valley Dublin (opened 22 November 2022)
Planned openings as part of the financial year 23/24 investment pipeline:
New full line store:
- Purley Way (expected summer 2023)
New full line stores (relocations):
- Leeds White Rose (expected summer 2023)
- Liverpool (expected summer 2023)
- Birmingham Bullring (autumn 2023)
- Lakeside Thurrock (winter 2023)
- Trafford Centre (winter 2023)
New foodhalls:
- Stockport (expected summer 2023)
- Barnsley (expected autumn 2023)
- Largs (expected winter 2023)
