M&S pumps £12.5 mn investment into London stores, creating 200 jobs

M&S has over 100 owned stores in London, from South Woodford to Sutton, Brent Cross to Bexleyheath, and everywhere in between. The investment will enable the retailer to reach even more customers across the capital, providing a bigger, better, and fresher shopping experience, the company said in a press release.

The company is set to open a brand-new store in Purley Way this week and will undertake a full renewal of its Victoria Cardinal Place store later this year.

M&S has also announced a proposed redevelopment plan for Marble Arch, the only retail-led development of Oxford Street. The scheme involves the demolition of 17 buildings across Westminster, with four on Oxford Street alone. The project is set to create thousands of jobs and an improved public realm, while the store will be a modern, sustainable flag-bearing store in the top 1 per cent of London’s sustainable buildings, using only a quarter of the energy of the current building. This investment plan by M&S is a significant move to revive Oxford Street, which has experienced a rapid decline in recent years.

“M&S has been innovating in London for over a hundred years. We’re proud that many of our high street ‘firsts’ were born in the capital. Today, a third of all M&S stores are located in London—whether in train stations, shopping centres, or high streets—and today’s investment shows that we are committed to offering shoppers in our great capital city the best of M&S for the next 100 years and beyond,” said Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DP)