‘Such sad times’ cry shoppers as M&S confirms exact date it will close another fan favourite store
SHOPPERS have been left fuming after MARKS & Spencer confirmed the exact date it will close a fan-favourite branch.
The popular fashion retailer is set to pull the shutters on the decades-old branch in just a few weeks.
Marks and Spencer has confirmed it will close the doors of a popular branch in Queensway.
Bosses have revealed the Crawley store will shut up shop for good on Saturday, November 16.
Graham Bennett, M&S regional manager, said: “After consulting with our colleagues following our proposals earlier this year, our Queensway store will close on Saturday, November 16.
“Individual conversations are continuing with our colleagues and wherever possible, we will be offering them alternative roles with M&S.
“Thank you to all our customers who have shopped at the store – we will continue to work hard serving you at our nearby Acorn Park M&S Food.”
Shoppers will now have to rely on a sister branch that is located at Acorn Park.
Mr Bennett said the management is closing the branch due to “changing shopping patterns” – but added they are looking to invest in a new location within the city centre.
He said: “We remain open to investing in a new, accessible M&S store in Crawley in the future, subject to being able to find the right type of site.”
Fans of the iconic location that has been in business for decades have expressed their rage over the shocking closure.
Michael Jones, Crawley Borough’s Council leader, slammed the closure as “a real blow for the town centre”, Sussex world reports.
One raging shopper wrote on Facebook: “Very angry and upset about this.”
Another customer wrote: “I feel sorry for [shoppers] as they love shopping in there … such sad times.”
A third user said: “This is not going to be good for our town. [It was] the only decent shop we had.”
While a fourth shopper shared: “Awful decision to close M&S.”
OTHER M&S CLOSURES
The news comes after M&S confirmed its Murraygate Dundee will close on July 6, with staff moving to a new superstore at Gallagher Retail Park on July 16.
Earlier this month, the exact closing date of the M&S store in the Belfry Shopping Centre in Redhill, Surrey, was revealed – August 17.
The retailer which runs 405 stores across the country, shut down locations in Manchester, Swindon and Birmingham between August and November last year.
M&S also announced the closure of its Walworth store in South London, and its home store in Kingditch Trading Estate in Tewkesbury, Cheltenham.
The site at The Broadway Shopping Centre closed its doors for the last time on May 18.
If you want to know if your local might be next, we have the full list of M&S stores that are marked for closure in 2024.
Why are M&S stores closing?
In November 2016, the high street chain said that it had marked 110 low-performing stores for closure or change as part of a big 10-year restructuring plan.
Store closures began in April 2017 when the first six stores were announced would shut.
In May 2018, M&S then announced that it was accelerating its plans with over 110 clothes stores due to close by 2022.
By May 2019, M&S revised its plans to 120 clothing store closures by April 2024.
It also added 25 food stores to the firing line, saying they face being axed or relocated.
In 2021 the 30 store closures came after a year of high street retailers battling to survive as a result of the Covid crisis.
As non-essential shops were ordered to close during several national lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, many retailers’ sales, including M&S, took a big hit.
In 2022, the changes come as it faces a tough consumer backdrop, rising inflation and a £100million hit from soaring energy costs.
The retailer has said that it is accelerating its store overhaul to save around £309million in rent costs.
M&S has previously said that it was focused on moving out of tired stores on high streets with low footfall in favour of relocating to retail parks, which continue to prove popular with shoppers.
Not all is bad news
But it wasn’t just closures that the retailer announced – the chain also said it would open 104 new “bigger and fresher” food stores.
In the last 12 months, it has opened 22 sites including in Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester.
Cities like Leeds and Liverpool have already become home to new M&S stores.
Nine openings in November included six new stores plus three store renewals.
It also plans to open over 100 bigger Foodhall sites by 2028.
M&S plans to operate 180 full-line (which include clothing, home and food) and 400 food halls in the next five years.
The new openings will bring investment in new stores to £480million, M&S said in May last year.
Flagship M&S stores have popped up in several major UK cities this year, with more openings to come this year.
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.