Marks & Spencer has revealed plans to shut down six of its stores while opening 36 brand new ones over the next six months as part of a review of its store estate.
The six store closures will impact around 380 staff, but the new store openings will create more than 1400 new jobs.
M&S said it would consult with affected staff and those impacted by the closures will be guaranteed redeployment in near-by outlets.
Meanwhile, the 36 new M&S outlets comprise of 34 food-only stores plus two clothing, home and food stores.
The store estate review is part of previously-announced plans to open 200 new food-only stores and sell clothing and homewares from 60 fewer locations after years of stagnation at its general merchandise division.
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“We will open new stores, some will reduce in size, some will move, some will close and others will convert to food-only,” chief executive Steve Rowe said.
“Each proposal we make will be very carefully considered with our colleagues and customers firmly front of mind.
“It is our intention that nobody leaves M&S and we will work as hard as possible to ensure that we can deliver against this promise.”
The stores set to close down are located in Monks Cross, Portsmouth, Slough, Warrington, Wokingham and Worksop. Four of these are clothing stores.
The Foodhalls will be located in places like Huntingdon, Aylesbury, Spinningfields, Manchester, Bishopsgate in London, and Strood in Kent while the new clothing, home and food stores will be Bracknell and Rushden.
M&S currently has 959 stores in the UK, of which 304 are full-line stores, 615 are food-only, and the remaining 40 are outlets.
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