Marks and Spencer (M&S) have announced that they will be expanding their offer at the White Rose Shopping Centre and taking over the space vacated by Debenhams.
The new M&S store is described as a ‘full line’ store offering home wares, food and clothing as well as a cafe. There will be considerable remodelling of the existing space to accommodate the new store, which is expected to open in 2023.
In the meantime the existing M&S store at White Rose will remain open. Existing staff will transfer to the new store, but M&S also expect to create new jobs in the larger store.
Debenhams stores closed in May 2021 following the sale of the company to Boohoo and now only trades online.
Paula Varley, Regional Manager for M&S, said:
“We’re really excited to announce our plans to move to a brand new, larger M&S full line store in the White Rose Shopping Centre. The new M&S White Rose will offer local customers a much bigger range of M&S products across our Food and Clothing & Home departments and a new M&S Café. All colleagues in our existing store will move to work in the new store and we’re also delighted to be creating new roles on top of this.
“This investment in Leeds and the wider local area is part of the reshaping of our store estate to make sure it’s fit for the future, meeting the needs of customers today – and those of tomorrow. We expect to be able to open the new and improved store in Spring 2023 and our existing store in the shopping centre will remain open as usual until the development is complete.”
Pablo Sueiras, Senior Portfolio Director at Landsec, which manages White Rose Shopping Centre, said:
“We are shaping White Rose in a way that truly meets all the needs of our community, combining fashion, dining, leisure, and convenience. We have seen over the last year just how important the offer of brands like M&S has been, and we are delighted to have secured this upsize with them. Landsec has invested significantly to create this bespoke unit for M&S, which is undoubtedly the best way to reimagine this space to improve the White Rose offer for our guests.
“The relocation and significantly upsized M&S store also demonstrates the strong performance at White Rose, and the centre’s role in providing flagship stores for key brands in the region. This follows upsizes in recent years with Next and River Island, and is further evidence of our commitment to support brand partners that want to expand their offer at White Rose.”
Image: CGI of the new expanded M&S store at White Rose
Great can’t wait always said it would be a good place for a super M&S. Go to Owlcoates at the moment and still will sometimes but this is great. The other is far too little and cannot show all goods. Well done somebody with scope at last. We love our M&S looking forward already.
Good Luck
Regards
Patricia Kennedy