Marks & Spencer might still be reeling from its recent cyber attack but it is not letting the hackers wreck its expansion plans, after revealing it is to open 12 new food halls across England on former Homebase plots.
The new sites will create over 550 jobs and form a central part of M&S’s store rotation programme aimed at building “bigger, better” locations.
Among the confirmed openings are two 18,000sq ft stores in Abingdon and Cannock, both scheduled to open in late 2025.
They will be followed by a further three large-format stores in Farnham, Godalming and Northampton by mid-2026. At 22,000sq ft, the Godalming store will be M&S’s biggest standalone food hall to date.
The move follows M&S’s pledge to reshape its estate by 2027/28, with a target of 420 renewed Food stores and a more efficient set of 180 “full line” stores; last year’s results saw food sales outperform targets by around 20% in new stores.
All new stores will feature modern in-store concepts including market-style fruit and veg displays, larger bakeries with coffee to go, and Click & Collect points for fashion, home and beauty orders from M&S.com – once it is back up and running.
Other features include expanded frozen sections, wider aisles, and energy-efficient systems in line with the retailer’s Plan A commitments.
M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said: “Investing in new and renewed stores is one of our key transformation priorities. Securing these highly desirable sites in priority locations will accelerate this strategy, drive further growth in our M&S food business and most importantly give our customers the best possible M&S shopping experience.”
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