END OF AN ERA
Legendary department chain closes doors to huge branch forever – making way for flagship M&S store
A whopping £21m is set to be spent on the M&S fit-out
A LEGENDARY department chain has closed the doors of one huge branch as it is set to be replaced by an M&S.
The well known high street brand was located in Cabot Circus shopping centre, Bristol, after being at the site for years.
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House of Fraser shut the store's doors yesterday after it was opened in 2008.
But it will be replaced by a brand new Marks and Spencer store that is set to open next year.
The supermarket is set to spend £21m on the 80,000sq ft space that will sell their great range of food, clothes, and beauty products.
In January 2022, M&S closed its shop in Broadmead after 70 years, its new store in Cabot Circus is expected to create 150 new jobs.
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Cabot Circus has also lost premier brands Showcase Cinema and Jungle Rumble.
Fans spoke to and shared what their thoughts on the closure of the store.
One fan said she was in "utter shock".
"I just found out last week, it's really really sad. This is my favourite store and it always has been for a long time.
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"I believed it had been in the pipeline. I kept saying to my husband it was only a matter of time."
Another said the closure was: "very sad, very emotional.
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"It's a beautiful shop, there's a lot going on in there, but obviously now it's closing down."
While a third told the news site: "It's going to be sad. We're not very spoiled for choices here."
M&S boss Stuart Machin said: “It’s brilliant to be announcing our return to Bristol city centre today.
“At Cabot Circus, we’re able to create a flagship store which delivers the best possible shopping experience for customers and showcases the very best of M&S.
“Our store rotation programme is all about ensuring we have the right stores in the right place and with the right space to excite and inspire our customers, including in city centres.
“This £21m investment will allow us to do just that while expanding our footprint across the South West.”
Rita-Rose Gagné, CEO of Hammerson, added: “We are delighted to continue expanding our partnership with M&S in Cabot Circus, having seen the positive impact of their presence across our other destinations.
What does Frasers Group own?
MIKE Ashley's Frasers Group owns dozens of high street and online brands, here is the full list.
- House of Fraser
- Sports Direct
- Flannels
- Evans Cycles
- Everlast Gyms
- Everlast
- Game
- Frasers
- I saw it first
- Gieves and Hawkes
- Jack Wills
- Slazenger
- Studio
- Sofa.com
- USA Pro
- USC
“M&S is a brand that resonates with our core catchment areas and this new store will support our strategy to create a leading destination, thriving at the heart of Bristol city centre.”
It comes as a number of retailers owned by Frasers Group have shuttered stores permanently.
Frasers announced plans to close down a popular fashion chain USC's branch in Stoke-on-Trent this summer.
The firm also shut a USC branch in Stockton-on-Tees in December last year after launching a closing down sale.
And House of Fraser, also owned by Frasers Group, closed its store in Carlisle in May.
A Flannels site - also under Frasers - in Bolton, closed for the final time in the new year.
And MatchesFashion - an online fashion website - fell into administration in March this year before shutting down forever in June.
But it has opened new stores across the UK as well.
Shoppers have been visiting their "new concept" stores which sell brands from across the group including Sports Direct and Jack Wills.
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Last September, it cut the ribbon on one of the stores in Norwich and has since opened two more of the stores in Blackpool and Sheffield.
House of Fraser has been approached for comment.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
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