M&S to refurbish Newcastle store as part of £13m investment
The £13m announcement follows investment in the North East by M&S last year to update its store in Newcastle’s Silverlink Shopping Park and the M&S Food Hall in Gosforth
M&S has announced its plans to revamp its Newcastle city centre store following a £13m investment in its North East store estate for the year ahead.
The Northumberland Street store will include a fresh-market style food hall which is expected to be complete later this year and a new, refreshed clothing, home and beauty department will follow and be completed by early 2024.
The news follows the announcement that the retailer is set to open a brand-new, bigger M&S store at the Galleries Retail Park in Washington.
The new store in Washington will offer local customers a bigger range of M&S products, with the retailer relocating from its existing Simply Food store into a 47,000 sq ft space with a new clothing, home and Beauty department and a bigger M&S Foodhall – nearly “double” the size of the current offering.
Construction work is already underway to bring together three previously separate units on the Galleries Retail Park to create the new space and will also stay open as normal until the new story is ready – expected to be in spring 2024.
There will be opportunities for all colleagues working in the current store to transfer to the new M&S Washington Galleries or other local M&S stores and the retailer has confirmed the new store will also create additional new jobs for the local community when it opens next year.
The £13m announcement follows investment in the North East by M&S last year to update its store in Newcastle’s Silverlink Shopping Park and the M&S Food Hall in Gosforth.
Helen Cowie, regional manager for the North East at M&S, said: “M&S has been a part of local communities across the North East for well over a hundred years, and throughout that time we’ve always been innovating to keep delivering an excellent shopping experience for our customers – whether it’s the opening of one of our first ever Penny Bazaars in Newcastle’s famous Grainger Market in 1895, or launching our first ever shopping centre site in the country at the Metro Centre in 1986.
“We’re proud to have been trading from our store on Northumberland Street since 1932. Over the years we’ve undertaken plenty of refurbishments and extensions to make sure the store keeps delivering for local customers and today’s investment – as well as our plans for an exciting new store at Washington Galleries – shows that we’re as committed as ever to offering shoppers in the North East the very best of M&S.”