Northern Ireland Spared the M&S Chop
Recently, Marks and Spencer’s announced that they will be restructuring, with an aim to save £350m by 2021. Seven clothing outlets have already shut their doors last week. Whilst the closure of over 100 stores across the UK isn’t welcome, there is good news for NI.
The upmarket retailer M&S has announced a major restructuring of its stores all across the UK. This has already seen to the closure of 28 of its stores and the plans will put hundreds of jobs at risk. Northern Ireland outlets, however, are safe from the axe, and the restructuring is avoiding the country.
PR contact for M&S in Northern Ireland, Sasha McKnight, has stated to Neighbourhood Retailer that: “Whilst 100 M&S stores will be closing due to the restructure, none of these stores will be in Northern Ireland.” While the news is still a blow for the retail sector as a whole, this is a great development for NI.
Worry throughout NI had started due to the closure of the Bow Street Mall M&S which has been announced for later in the autumn. However, this would appear to be a coincidental as Sasha advised that a new M&S store would be opening up in Craigavon later in the autumn.
August, 11 saw clothing stores in Falkirk, Kettering, Newmarket, Northampton, Stockton, Walsall and New Mersey retail-park in Speke will trade for a final day – while a Simply Food in Bayswater in central London will also close.
Three stores – in Darlington, Fleetwood and Newton Abbott – have already ceased trading as part of the phase of closures. More in Clacton, East Kilbride and Holloway Road in London are expected to close at a later date.
Speaking to The Guardian Steve Rowe, M&S chief executive, said: “There are likely to be more redundancies.” However, he said 86% of the staff working in the stores closed so far had been relocated within the business.
M&S’s chair, Archie Norman, said the size of the company’s store portfolio had become “a drag on our performance.” He went on to state that: “For me, the results in the next two years aren’t the most important thing. We are here to deliver a profitable, growing business in five years’ time.”
