Revealed: Closures and openings at Marks and Spencer stores in Leamington and Warwick - here's what's happening
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Changes are being made to the Marks and Spencer (M&S) stores in Leamington and Warwick - with closures as well as new openings.
Currently M&S have a Foodhall on the Parade and they have a clothing and home department inside the Royal Priors Shopping Centre in Leamington. The business also had a M&S Simply Food store in Westgate House in Warwick.
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Hide AdIt has now been revealed that the business will be taking over a large retail area at the Leamington Shopping Park to provide both 'a full line' store, which includes clothing and home wares, as well as a new foodhall.
In April 2019 The Courier ran a story about plans for an M&S Foodhall with a café and two smaller non-food shops for the vacant site between Debenhams and New Look at the Leamington Shopping Park being granted planning permission.
The plans had been rejected by Warwick District Council in December 2017 but after the developer appealed the council's decision planning permission was granted.
The new 'full line' store is due to go into the former Debenhams store.
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Hide AdBecause of the much larger store, M&S has said this will mean that the site inside the Royal Priors Shopping Centre will close and so will the Simply Food store in Warwick.
M&S also said the Simply Food stores which are based at fuel stations will be unaffected.
However the Foodhall on the Parade is due to remain open.
Craig Burton, regional manager for M&S, said: “We’re excited to announce our plans to open a brand new, larger M&S full line store in the Leamington Shopping Park, which will offer local customers a much bigger range of M&S products across our food and clothing and home departments.
"The new M&S Foodhall will be finished this summer, with our clothing and home department following in the autumn.
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Hide Ad“In line with the expansion, our existing Leamington Royal Priors clothing and home store and Warwick Simply Food store will close once the development is completed with colleagues moving to work in our new store.
"We appreciate this may be disappointing news for some, but we believe this is the right decision to ensure we can deliver the very best M&S offer for customers in Leamington and Warwick.
"We will keep the community updated as the works progress.
“The investment in the town is part of the wider reshaping of our store estate to make sure it’s fit for the future, meeting the needs of customers today – and those of tomorrow.”
REACTION:
Read the reaction from the MP - M&S reaction: 'Store closures in Leamington and Warwick would be a severe blow to the vitality of our town centres', says MP