The brand new shops will create over 550 jobs and play a key function within the retailer’s technique to improve and optimise its retailer property, which goals to interchange smaller branches with bigger, extra trendy areas that higher meet buyer demand.
Information of the funding comes as Marks & Spencer continues its battle with a cyber-attack that has paused on-line orders since 23 April.
Two of the 18,000 sq ft shops are set to open in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and Cannock, Staffordshire, later this 12 months.
The retailer then plans to open three others in Farnham and Godalming, each Surrey, and Northampton, within the first half of subsequent 12 months.
The Godalming location will grow to be the most important standalone M&S Foodhall so far, at 22,000 sq ft.
M&S CEO Stuart Machin stated: “Investing in new and renewed shops is certainly one of our key transformation priorities. Securing these extremely fascinating websites in precedence areas will speed up this technique, drive additional development in our M&S meals enterprise and most significantly give our prospects the very best M&S purchasing expertise.”
This enlargement helps M&S’s broader purpose of reforming its retailer property by 2027-28. The enterprise plans to function 420 renewed Meals shops and 180 extra environment friendly Full Line shops as a part of this transformation. All plans stay topic to planning approval.
Within the subsequent 12 months, the retailer has slated 10 new Foodhall openings and two Full Line shops, together with upgrades to various current websites.
The retailer says that in 2024, its new meals shops outperformed expectations, delivering round 20% extra in gross sales than forecast.
The funding in bricks-and-mortar follows a run on the retailer’s on-line operations amid the continuing cyber assault. M&S’s know-how supplier, Tata Consultancy Providers (TCS), has launched an investigation to find out whether or not it might have served because the entry level for the assault.
