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Marks and Spencer recently announced its plans to close 67 stores across the UK, reducing its multipurpose shops from 247 to 180 by 2028.
The retailer will be shifting away from home and clothing ranges and focus on food-only stores. As a result, 67 stores will close down while 104 new food-only stores will be opened.
M&S CEO Stuart Machin explained that the company will now focus on “making sure we [they] have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space”.
He continued: “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.”
The M&S shop at the Kingsditch Trading Estate in Tewkesbury Road, in Cheltenham, will close on Saturday, March 30. The closest M&S Foodhall will also close in summer but will re-open in spring 2025 at the Centrum Retail Park, also in Cheltenham.
Two other Marks and Spencer shops, one in Peterborough and another one in Neath, Wales, will follow suit in the next two months.
The supermarket CEO, Stuart Machin, explained that the store closures will pay off long-term for both the company and customers.
He said: “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.”
