A NEW Marks & Spencer store is set to open in Scotland as the business invests £480 million as part of a wider restructure of its business.
The new store is set to open in Largs in north Ayrshire sometime this winter and will operate as a food hall.
Numerous other stores have been confirmed across England, but Largs is currently the only one which has been announced in Scotland.
In its latest Christmas trading update, M&S said fashion and home sales were 37.7% up in the 13 weeks to January 1 at just over £1 billion when compared to the same period last year.
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Although the company revealed the number of its full-line stores would gradually decrease over the next five financial years, it also announced it would open 104 more Simply Food shops.
The company is aiming to save £309 million in rent costs through the shake-up.
Chief executive Stuart Machin said: “Stores are a core part of M&S’s omni-channel future and serve as a competitive advantage for how customers want to shop today.
“Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right space and we’re aiming to rotate from the 247 stores we have today to 180 higher quality, higher productivity full line stores that sell our full clothing, home and food offer whilst also opening over 100 bigger, better food sites.”
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