M&S has revealed plans to invest £30m in its Scottish stores, with more than five new openings and expansions planned within the next 18 months.
This includes a £15m investment in Aberdeen where it will expand its Union Square store to almost double the size and will debut a fresh market-style food hall, an in-store flower shop, a bakery and dedicated M&S Wine shop.
It said the store would be on the same scale as its new flagships in Birmingham and Liverpool.
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The investment will also create a M&S Foodhall in Linlithgow and a new full-line store in Dundee’s Gallagher Retail Park.
M&S operations director Sacha Berendji said: “This is our biggest ever investment in Scotland, putting £30m into transforming the shopping experience for customers in Aberdeen, Largs, Dundee and Linlithgow – bringing new jobs across the country with bigger, better, fresh-market style food halls and new opportunities for Scottish shoppers to access our best-ever, most inspiringly presented clothing, home and beauty range.
“Our investment in Scotland goes beyond new stores with M&S sourcing more Scottish produce than ever before, through strong partnerships with local producers. Around 2,500 Scottish farms, sea farms and fisheries supply us with great quality products, many supplied beyond Scotland to M&S stores across the UK. Our commitment to Scotland has never been stronger.”
In recent years, M&S has launched eleven new and renewed stores in Scotland, including a new foodhall in Straiton in Edinburgh.
The latest investment follows the retailer setting out a £480m multi-year investment in its store rotation programme across the UK last year.
