M&S Ramps Up Food Ambitions With Three New Stores And 200 Jobs Boost

Marks & Spencer is accelerating the expansion of its food business, opening three new stores over this week and next as it looks to grow its share of the family weekly shop.

The retailer has already opened a 15,000 sq ft fresh market-style food store at Hatfield Oldings Corner, alongside a 16,000 sq ft site in Luton Bramingham. A third store, measuring 18,600 sq ft, is due to open in Farnham next Wednesday.

The three openings will create more than 200 jobs and add to the more than 20 new and renewed M&S stores launched so far this financial year.

The move forms part of M&S’s wider strategy to expand its food division by increasing its store footprint and enlarging existing locations, enabling it to offer a broader range suited to full weekly shops.

Each of the new stores will carry either the full M&S Food range or the vast majority of it. This includes the retailer’s “Remarksable Value” line of everyday essentials and its “Bigger Pack Better Value” range, which is aimed at families and was expanded by a third last year to more than 100 products.

Customers visiting the larger-format stores will also have access to a number of in-store concepts, including hot chicken counters, bakeries, coffee counters serving barista-made drinks and M&S’s cheese barge offering.

Two of the new locations, in Luton and Farnham, are among 12 former Homebase sites being redeveloped by M&S across the UK. The first of these, in Cannock, opened in December and has since seen food sales more than double in its larger-format space.

M&S Food managing director Alex Freudmann said the retailer is focused on ensuring every store delivers the full strength of its food offer.

“We’re transforming M&S Food, and we want every store we have to offer the very best of the food range to our customers – from trusted value to exceptional quality and innovation,” he said.

“To do that, we are finding the right store locations with the right space across the UK that can allow us to offer the widest possible product range for customers and families. This month, we’re bringing M&S Food to three new towns, and we have a strong pipeline of new openings planned for the year ahead.”

Separately, M&S is set to reopen its Westway Chelmsford store this Thursday following an eight-week refurbishment aimed at expanding the range and improving the shopping experience.

The retailer is currently seeking new large-format sites across around 500 locations in the UK, as it works towards increasing the average size of its food stores to 18,000 sq ft.