// M&S unveils a £12.5 million investment in stores across London for the year ahead
// The funding will create 200 jobs and double the total new square footage gained across its store estate last year.
M&S is investing £12.5m into developing its London store portfolio this year, with a pipeline of new stores set to create 200 new roles for Londoners.
It follows a £10.3m investment in the heritage retailer’s store estate in London last year, which also created 200 jobs, totalling £23m and 400 jobs over a two-year period.
The majority of stores will be food led with openings of food halls in Earslfield, a food hall in Liverpool Street Station and a redesigned M&S food hall in Waterloo Station
This week the retailer is opening a new 38,000 sq ft store in Croydon’s Purley Way today, which is a “full-line” store, selling clothing and home products, as well as food and will feature an M&S Café.
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Chief executive Stuart Machin said: “M&S has been innovating in London for over a hundred years. We’re proud that many of our high street ‘firsts’ were born in the capital – from operating a chain of penny bazaars across London in the early 20th century, to opening our first ever Simply Food here in 2001, and trialing our first new-look Foodhall design in Clapham in 2019.”
“Today, a third of all M&S stores are located in London – whether in train stations, shopping centres, or high streets – and today’s investment shows that we are committed to offering shoppers in our great capital city the best of M&S for the next 100 years and beyond.”
Amid the news of the investment Machin has also riticised the Government’s decision to scrap tax-free shopping and the “proliferation of tacky candy stores” on Oxford Street as he said London has fallen behind other major cities.
In a letter in the Evening Standard, he said: “The high street which is meant to be the jewel in London’s crown today is a national embarrassment, with a proliferation of tacky candy stores, antisocial behaviour and footfall remaining in the doldrums, 11% down on pre-pandemic levels.
“And the scrapping of tax-free shopping for international visitors only holds London back further. Meanwhile other cities are beginning to thrive again. It pains me to see our great city like this. For too long now it has been on life support.”
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