The British chain Marks and Spencer (M&S) announced on Monday that it would invest 480 million pounds (542 million francs) to open 20 generalist stores across the United Kingdom, as part of a plan that sees the disappearance of dozens of them. others.
“This investment will generate more than 3,400 new jobs across the country,” the company said in a statement, which announced the acceleration in October of a plan to close “low productivity” stores, particularly in town centres, and to open others, focusing in particular on food.
This strategy of ‘store rotation’ in the United Kingdom is in line with a restructuring plan launched in 2020 due to the pandemic consisting in cutting 7000 jobs, which also confirmed a strategy of modernization of its sites started a few years earlier.
The brand had specified last fall that it wanted to close 67 general stores out of 247 and increase the number of food stores by a third, with 104 openings, adding that it wanted to complete this plan initially planned out of five within three years.
Marks and Spencer had also announced at the end of 2021 the closure of more than half of its sites in France due to supply problems linked to Brexit.
“Our site rotation program is regarding making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space,” M&S co-chief executive Stuart Machin said in the statement.
The group announced last week that it had achieved record sales at Christmas, welcoming a performance better than the average for the sector, driven in particular by a good performance in clothing and decoration, its weak points in recent years compared to food.
According to M&S, the performance of its new stores and recently refurbished stores is exceeding its expectations, citing as an example an ‘ageing’ store in Chesterfield town center (central England) which recently moved a little further afield and which has seen its sales double over one year.
Among the new openings planned for the 2023/2024 financial year include general stores located in major shopping centers in Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.
/ATS
