A SUPERMARKET store which has been at the heart of a town centre for nearly 100 years is set to close its doors ahead of a relocation to a new premises.
Marks and Spencer, located in High Street, Colchester, will shut down later this year as part of expansion plans which will see a bigger store open at Stane Retail Park.
The forthcoming Stanway shop, scheduled to open this Autumn, will offer customers a food hall, clothing and home departments, a café, and a wider range of products.
Work on the larger supermarket, boasting 62,000 square-feet of trading space, will start as soon as the £70million Stane Retail Park is completed this month.
The arrival of the new store will, however, mark the end of the chain’s High Street shop, which opened back in 1931 and has been a staple of the town centre ever since.
Marks and Spencer has also had some kind of prescence within Colchester since 1911.
Andrew Icke, regional manager for M&S, said: “We’re excited to announce our plans to invest in the local area and open a brand new, larger M&S store.
“As part of the relocation, the existing M&S Colchester store will close later this year but will remain open as normal until the new store is ready.
“There will be opportunities for all colleagues working in the current store to work in the new Stane Retail Park store or other local M&S stores.
“There will also be additional new job opportunities created for local workers when the store opens.
“Shopping habits are changing, so we’re rotating our store estate to make sure we have the right stores to offer our customers a brilliant shopping experience.
“We appreciate the current store closure may be disappointing news for some, but we believe this is the right decision to invest in a new store for the local area so we can deliver the very best of M&S for customers in Colchester.”
Emma Proctor King, head of communications for Churchmanor Estates, the developers behind Stane Retail Park, added: “We are pleased Marks and Spencer has decided to take more space at Stane Retail Park.
"We feel confident that this will enhance the continued success of the retail park and provide an improved shopping experience for the residents of Stanway.”
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