Take a tour of the new M&S in the BullRing, Birmingham
For one hundred and thirty nine years marks and Spencer has been a stalwart of British retailing - it’s a position that looks set to continue as the group embarks on a major round of new store openings, which in turn will create around 2200 new jobs.
The new 65,000 sq ft store in Birmingham's Bullring is just the beginning. Eight more are set to open this month, with a total investment of 80 million pounds. This signals a strong endorsement for traditional retailing after a turbulent period that saw the closure of many well-known brands.
The new 65,000 sq ft store in Birmingham's Bullring is just the beginning. Eight more are set to open this month, with a total investment of 80 million pounds. This signals a strong endorsement for traditional retailing after a turbulent period that saw the closure of many well-known brands.
Transcript
00:00 We're both really excited for the opening of M&S at Birmingham Bullring today. It was
00:06 a great opportunity to take up this empty unit in the heart of the Bullring shopping
00:10 centre and it's given us the ability to bring the most modern and vibrant shopping experience
00:15 to our customers, which is what they expect from our brand and for the future.
00:20 This new 65,000 square foot store is just the beginning of some major investments for
00:26 the company. Eight more stores are set to open this month with a total investment of
00:31 £80 million. This signals a strong endorsement for traditional retailing after a turbulent
00:38 period that saw the closure of many well-known brands, including Debenhams, who used to have
00:43 a branch right here.
00:45 I think there's been a lot of changes across a lot of town centres and Covid has certainly
00:50 been a drastic change for a number of people. The trend is that shopping is no longer just
00:56 a necessity, it's a social activity as well. So people want to do it and I think this move,
01:01 I mean Marks & Spencer's are reportedly spending about £500 million over a number of years.
01:06 They're strengthening their position, which is absolutely right. I think this is a great
01:11 brand for the Bullring, for the city centre. It's a brand that you can't get elsewhere
01:15 and it'll be a big statement piece and I think it will help drive more people to the city
01:20 centre.
01:21 Across this month alone, three new four-line stores in Birmingham, Lakeside, Thurrock
01:26 and Manchester are set to open, with close to 100 stores across the country in their
01:32 new format. Customers will also notice an enhanced food hall, an increasingly profitable
01:38 and important part of the business.
01:40 Yeah, it's absolutely key to keep giving our customers the enhancement that the brand is
01:45 there for and giving them everything that's new and fresh about our shopping experience.
01:49 So we're really delighted to be the first of nine stores this month that we're opening.
01:54 I think they've been really delighted, they've been really positive they've come in, they
01:58 love the new environment and the range they're seeing. They're really delighted to see it
02:02 in store today. And they're also excited to see some of the colleagues. So all our colleagues
02:06 have come from the existing store in Birmingham into the Bullring with us and we've got 100
02:11 new colleagues as well being brought in. So we really are a bigger team ready to welcome
02:16 all our customers today.
02:18 Thousands of customers made their way to the Bullring for the grand opening. So what did
02:23 those customers think of the new store?
02:26 And if everything's new and clean and bright, they're friendly welcome from the staff. We
02:31 haven't actually bought anything yet, they've just walked in. I'm sure they will be.
02:36 It's amazing, yeah, it's really nice. We've had a look round upstairs and downstairs. We're
02:41 out in our lunch hour, so I think we need to come on a Saturday to have a good look
02:45 round. But they were really impressed, it looks really nice, they've been really excited
02:49 to come and see.
02:50 More stores are set to open through the month of November. It's a powerful testament to
02:56 their confidence in the future of traditional retailing.
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