M&S to trial shops selling only clothes and not food

For almost a century Marks & Spencer has sold knitwear alongside fresh fruit and vegetables. Now, buoyed by a resurgence in its fashion sales, the retailer is opening a clothing-only store.
The standalone store — which will be branded simply “Marks & Spencer” — will open in London’s Battersea Power Station this autumn. It will stock a slimmed-down range of women’s and menswear, weighted towards M&S’s premium lines, as well as a range of beauty products.
M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said the trial store would “showcase the best of M&S clothing and beauty at outstanding value”. The retailer will open more standalone clothing and beauty stores around the country if the Battersea experiment proves successful.
Battersea Power Station has been transformed into an upmarket shopping centre, complete with restaurants, bars and cafés, that opened in 2022. The success of its food hall at Battersea encouraged M&S to trial its new clothing store in the London landmark, which typically attracts a more affluent consumer.
The boutique-style shop will be considerably smaller than a typical M&S, with staff on hand to offer styling advice. It will also stock lingerie, £99 cashmere jumpers, and items from its fashion-conscious Autograph line.
“Most people don’t shop for food and clothing on the same visit to M&S, so a clothing-only store makes a great deal of sense,” said Richard Hyman of Thought Provoking Consulting, which specialises in advising the retail industry. While M&S has run standalone food stores since 1987, it has not previously opened a clothing-only store. Hyman added that improvements in its clothing range meant M&S could go head to head with the likes of Zara. “Levels of confidence at M&S have been transformed,” he said.
Under womenswear director Maddy Evans, formerly of Topshop, the high-street stalwart is shedding its reputation as a purveyor of frumpy frocks. Instead it has slimmed-down ranges designed to appeal to women across a broad age range.
In June a second collaboration with the actress Sienna Miller quickly sold out of many items. In recent years M&S has also created capsule collections with Alexa Chung and Holly Willoughby, whose style is widely admired.
The brand has managed to reverse a seemingly inexorable decline in its clothing business, which is more profitable than food, under the guidance of chairman Archie Norman and the energetic leadership of Machin. M&S’s boss — who delights in nitpicking over the retailer’s products — recently complained to the menswear department that his new chinos had lost a bit of colour after their first wash.
Total clothing and homeware sales rose by 5.3 per cent to £3.9 billion in the year to March.
The division, which is run by former Tesco clothing boss Richard Price, generated an underlying operating profit of £402.8 million. One pound in every ten that Brits spend on clothes is spent at M&S.
Shares in M&S have risen by 56 per cent to 335.9p over the past year, valuing the retailer at £6.89 billion. In the UK, M&S now trades from 240 stores that sell both food and clothing and 316 Simply Food stores.