SHOPPERS have been left gutted after Marks and Spencer announced that it will close one of its branches for good.
The posh shop has 405 stores across the country and is a staple of the high street.
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Last year, M&S revealed that it would permanently shut ten stores and relocate more shops.
It’s part of the retailer’s plans to create more flagship M&S stores and food halls across the UK.
M&S is now set to close its home shop in Kingsditch Trading Estate in Tewkesbury Road, Cheltenham, in April.
The Foodhall will shut just a few weeks later in the summer.
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Shoppers have taken to social media to share their sadness over the decision to close the shop M&S stores.
One Facebook user said: “Disappointing news. I use the Home store regularly.”
Another wrote: “This saddens me to hear.”
A third added: “I’m not going to lie, I’m panicking.”
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And another social media user cried: “End of an era.”
But it’s not all bad news for shoppers, because M&S is set to open a new foodhall at the Centrum Retail Park in summer 2025.
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An M&S spokesperson said: “Our new M&S Foodhall in Centrum retail park is expected to open in spring 2025.
“We had hoped to continue trading at our current Kingsditch Foodhall store until the new store was ready, but it has unfortunately not been possible to reach an agreement with our landlord to do this.
“In the meantime, all colleagues from our Kingsditch stores will be able to temporarily move to work in our M&S Cheltenham store in the town centre, before then moving to work in the brand-new Foodhall when its opens in spring 2025.”
M&S is also set to close its branches in Aberdeen, Peterborough and Sunderland.
Its store in the Queensgate Shopping Centre, Peterborough, is due to close in April, but a final date will be determined after a consultation.
M&S is then closing the much-loved department store on Aberdeen‘s St Nicholas Street in the city centre.
However, the branch is set to close down which has left shoppers gutted.
It will shut its doors for a final time in 2025.
M&S is also consulting on closing its Sunderland store, which is located on High Street West.
An exact date for the store’s closure is yet to be confirmed because a concrete decision on the store’s future is yet to be finalised.
Each closure will make way for brand new and larger M&S stores.
Edinburgh, Dundee, Largs and Linlithgow will also be getting new or expanded M&S stores within the next year.
The full list of M&S closures that have taken place so far are:
- East Kilbride – February 2023
- Fenchurch Street, London – March 2023
- Meadowbank Retail Park in Edinburgh – April 2023
- Castleford – April 2023
- Bolton – April 2023
- Cardiff – April 2023
- Manchester – August 2023
- Swindon – October 2023
- Birmingham city centre – November 2023
- Barnsley’s town centre – November 2023
Cities like Leeds and Liverpool have already become home to new M&S stores.
Nine openings in November included six new stores plus three store renewals.
M&S is moving from having 247 stores to 180, but it says that these remaining locations will be higher quality, higher productivity stores and stock a wider range, including clothing, home, and food.
It also plans to open over 100 bigger Foodhall sites by 2028.
M&S plans to operate 180 full-line (which include clothing, home and food) and 400 food halls in the next five years.
The new openings will bring investment in new stores to £480million, M&S said in May last year.
More high street closures
Retailers have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year and more are on their way.
Several major brands have also collapsed, such as Wilko and Paperchase.
Many retailers have been struggling to get by, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Energy costs have risen, and more shoppers than ever are choosing to order online rather than head into stores.
This has left some retailers grappling with budgets and have no choice but to close stores to cut costs.
British retailers saw the amount of goods they sold drop last month at its fastest rate in three years as under-pressure families shifted part of their Christmas shop to earlier in the year.
Sales volumes dipped by 3.2% in December, data from the Office for National Statistics suggests, down from a rise of 1.4% a month before.
Several big-name chains are pulling down the shutters for the final time this month.
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WhSmith in Oban, Scotland, will close for good on February 17.
While Boots has revealed it is closing 300 stores over the next year as part of plans to evolve its brand.
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