Business

MARK AND SPENCER CREATES 3,400 OPPORTUNITIES

Marks & Spencer has said it will create 3,400 jobs across Britain as part of plans to revamp its stores and it plans to open eight “full-line” stores which stock clothes, food and homeware in cities such as Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds in the next year.

Seven of the eight shops will be relocations, of which five will be at former sites of Debenhams and some 12 food halls will also be opened as part of an overhaul of the company’s stores.

Once completed, the changes will see a reduction overall in the number of M&S’s traditional shops as the firm looks to expand its grocery trade. The new Simply Food outlets will be opened in towns including Stockport, Barnsley and Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

Five of the eight new “full-line” stores will be situated on former Debenhams sites in the Leeds White Rose, Liverpool ONE, Birmingham Bullring, Manchester Trafford and Lakeside Thurrock shopping centres.

Marks & Spencer said it was investing £480m in its “store rotation programme”, which will see 3,400 jobs being created over the next three to five years. It confirmed the jobs were new roles in additional to those that might be part of stores that relocate to different areas.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said it felt “significant” that M&S had revealed its investment figure at a time when the “retail environment is not exactly buoyant”.

However, it demonstrates physical retail continues to have a role and that Marks & Spencer sees its multi-format stores, with a mix of clothing, homewares and food, as a competitive advantage.

The new jobs announcement comes after M&S emerged as one of the winners of the Christmas trading season, with a 6.3% rise in like-for-like sales across its food halls in the 13 weeks to 31 December.

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