Marks & Spencer has unveiled a £50 million masterplan to shake up the high street in the North West, with six new stores set to open their doors in 2025. The high street favourite is launching a major retail revival, pledging to bring over 300 new jobs and 100,000 sq ft of fresh shopping space to the region.
The investment marks a huge vote of confidence in bricks-and-mortar retail. The programme started off this week with the grand reopening of M&S’s Gemini Retail Park store in Warrington, with a brand-new clothing, home, and beauty department and a revamped market-style Food Hall, the Grocer reported.
But that’s just the start of what M&S is calling its “renewal and rotation” strategy, a move designed to put the retailer back at the heart of the high street. Under this ambitious plan, six more stores are being prepared to open across the region, with locations in Speke, Formby, Thornton-Cleveleys, Warrington, Blackburn and Bolton all set to benefit.
In Speke, the current Food Hall at Mersey Retail Park will be replaced with a full-scale M&S offering clothing, home and beauty ranges for the first time, creating 100 new jobs and bringing a huge retail upgrade to south Liverpool.
Over in Lancashire, Thornton-Cleveleys will see a brand-new 16,000 sq ft Food Hall take the place of its existing store, promising a bigger and better food shopping experience for locals.
Meanwhile, in Blackburn, the retailer has submitted plans to relocate to the bustling Frontier Park retail hub, where customers can look forward to an expanded food selection in a modern setting.
In Bolton, M&S is planning a major extension of its Middlebrook Retail Park store, taking over an adjacent unit and adding an estimated 108 jobs in the process.
The makeover doesn’t stop there. In Sale, a recent £2.1 million investment has delivered a newly revamped Food Hall, already open and featuring a larger bakery, an on-the-go coffee counter, and a brand-new food-to-order service.
M&S property director Will Smith hailed the plans as a key step in the company’s transformation drive.
He said: “As we reshape for growth, we want to open new stores we can be proud of and that deliver the best possible shopping experience for customers.”
He added that the North West is a key region in the company’s future, home to many of M&S’s loyal shoppers and suppliers, including Park Cakes in Oldham, the bakery behind the beloved Colin the Caterpillar cakes.
All of the new store developments are still subject to planning permission.
