M&S to open third food store in two weeks
Marks & Spencer is set to open its third food store in a fortnight in Farnham, Surrey this week.
The Farnham store, which opens on Wednesday 25th, spans 18,600 sq ft and is one of 12 former Homebase sites that M&S is redeveloping.
Last week, the retailer opened a 16,000 sq ft store in Luton Bramingham, also a former Homebase unit, as well as a 15,000 sq ft food store at Hatfield Oldings Corner.
These openings come as M&S looks to double the size of its food business by growing its overall store footprint.
Within these new stores, the larger size means M&S can offer features such as a hot chicken counter, in-store bakery, and coffee counter.
Alex Freudmann, managing director at M&S Food, said: “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. 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.”
Elsewhere, M&S’ latest store renewal launched last Thursday at Westway Chelmsford, following an eight-week transformation.
M&S said it is looking for new, large sites across 500 locations in the UK that could stock a full range of food, growing the target size of its food stores to an average of 18,000 sq ft.