// M&S extends refillable grocery concept to eight additional stores
// There are three existing stores in Manchester, Hedge End in Southampton and Staines Two Rivers in Surrey
// Fill Your Own was first launched in December 2019
Marks & Spencer has extended its packaging-free refillable grocery concept Fill Your Own to eight additional stores – bringing the offering to 11 stores across the country.
The latest stores to feature Fill Your Own include Lisburn in Northern Ireland, Stratford City in London, Sears Solihull in the West Midlands, Gyle in Edinburgh, Vangarde Monks in York, and Wolstanton Stoke in Staffordshire.
M&S has three existing stores in Manchester, Hedge End in Southampton and Staines Two Rivers in Surrey.
READ MORE: M&S to close 30 stores after £201m loss
By mid-June, Fill Your Own will also be introduced to M&S stores in Aintree in Liverpool and Meadowhall in Sheffield.
Fill Your Own, which first launched in December 2019, offers more than 60 lines of refillable groceries – including pasta, rice, cereal, nuts, frozen fruit and a range of bake-at-home items, such as all-butter croissants, pain au chocolats, and apricot twists.
“Fill Your Own has been hugely popular with our customers since it launched,” M&S head of sustainable business, Carmel McQuaid said.
“They’ve told us that it’s easy to understand, offers a huge variety of the high-quality, great value M&S products they love, and supports with portion control.
“Importantly, Fill Your Own is helping our customers – and our business – to reduce and reuse plastic and this initiative has the potential to save thousands of units each year.
“As our customers have navigated this completely new way of shopping, we’ve continued to test, learn and adapt the scheme based on their feedback and now we’re ready to expand it to more locations and introduce new product lines.”
M&S is planning to extend the Fill Your Own product range by Autumn with new lines including wasabi peas, dried mango and apple, and cashew nuts – bringing the range to nearly 100 lines in total.
M&S chief executive Steve Rowe said: “In the face of unprecedented crisis, we did not lose sight of the goal of our transformation; to return M&S to sustainable, profitable growth and deliver long-term value for all our stakeholders.
“It is through Plan A – our multi-year sustainability action plan – that we address the risks and opportunities that environmental and societal issues present to us as a business.
“It drives us to make better choices to ensure M&S, and the precious resources and planet we rely on, are in better shape for the future.”
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