High street icon to shut two busy shopping centre branches permanently TODAY after 33 years
A MAJOR high street retailer is shutting two busy branches for good today after 33 years of service.
Marks and Spencer has announced the permanent closure of its stores in Gallowtree Gate, Leicester city centre, and The Belfry Shopping Centre in Redhill, Surrey, as of today.
It comes after a string of closures in the area, from Sainsbury's to Wilko - as locals fear their high street will become a ghost town.
Locals, who heavily rely on the giant retailer, have expressed disappointment over the store closures.
Andy Nash, who manages The Belfry Shopping Centre, expressed surprise at the closure.
He said: "We are obviously sad to hear that M&S has made the decision to start the consultation to close their Redhill store, which has been much loved by our shoppers for the last 33 years.
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"The Belfry has constantly evolved over the years as consumer habits have changed and it will continue to evolve with new stores opening all the time.
"Though it will be disappointing to lose M&S, the bigger
picture for the Centre remains extremely positive, with more visitors using the Centre and staying longer."
And Burt McNeil, chairman of Leicester Civic Society wrote to M&S's CEO and said: "The city centre’s vitality depends on a mix of retailers, and your store is a key component of that ecosystem.
"Leicester’s city centre and its residents depend on Marks & Spencer.
He added how the branch was a "haven" for "vulnerable groups", providing a social community hub as well as food essentials.
But Calum Telford, the regional manager for M&S, told LeicestershireLive: “After consulting with our colleagues, we have a provisional closure date of Saturday, August 17, for our Gallowtree Gate store.
"I want to thank all our customers who have shopped with us at the store over the years and we will be working hard to continue serving them at our stores across Leicestershire.
"Individual conversations are continuing with our colleagues and wherever possible, we will offer them alternative roles with M&S.
"Shopping habits are changing and our store rotation strategy is all about making sure we have the right stores with the right space to offer a brilliant shopping experience.
"Sadly, that does mean taking the tough decision to close our Gallowtree Gate store."
Shoppers in Leicester were devastated to hear the closure news.
One said: "Yet another nail in Leicester's coffin, souls by the destruction of a once great city is nearing completion.
"No go area for all decent people now and will only get worse."
"All we need now is for John Lewis to close its doors and there's nothing left," said someone else.
"The High Street has changed," wrote a third.
It comes after branches in Manchester and Swindon have all closed since August last year.
In total, the chain has said it wants to close 67 "lower productivity" sites between 2022 and 2027.
However, M&S has also announced the chain is opening new stores and freshening up a swathe of others in a boost for shoppers.
In a fresh update, the industry giant said it will pull up the shutters on two new branches and refresh 12 more across London as part of a £30million investment.
Total M&S sales rose by 9.3% to £13billion in the year to March - and pre-tax profits spiked by 41% to £672.5million.
Its shares have also climbed by 76% in the past year to 287.8p, with the company now valued at £5.6billion.
List of stores M&S is opening or refreshing
M&S has revealed details for seven of the stores set to open or earmarked for renovation.
Store openings
- Sidcup – opened June 19
- Friern Barnet – opening August
Renewals
- Brixton Road – expected Summer 2024
- Chancery Lane – expected Summer 2024
- Blackheath – expected Summer 2024
- Teddington – expected Summer 2024
- Islington – expected early 2025
The group’s bosses were asked whether they have “given up on the high street” at the AGM on Tuesday, amid concerns they are shifting increasingly towards retail parks.
Archie Norman, chairman of the business, said: “No, we haven’t given up on the high street.
“We have a very important store rotation programme but we are absolutely not trying to leave city centres – that has never been our intention.
“We do have some older stores that are hard and costly to maintain and run so we have to look at that.”
Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, said: “Our store rotation is really a catch-up programme on the last 20 years as we have previously underinvested."
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The retailer also confirmed that it is investing £17 million in a new store in the centre of Bath, and £21 million on a new flagship store in central Bristol.
It said these are expected to create around 150 jobs.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.