Nottingham city centre suffered another blow today with the announcement that Marks & Spencer will not be renewing the lease on one of its stores.
The Home store in Lister Gate, currently closed in line with government guidelines, will not be reopening after lockdown restrictions for non-essential shopping are relaxed next month.
As well as selling items including sofas, bedding, kitchen equipment and garden accessories, the store had a cafe upstairs.
All staff have been informed.
No jobs will be lost, with employees able to transfer to the main M&S shop in Albert Street or a new store opening at Giltbrook Retail Park. An opening date has yet to be revealed after the Covid-19 setback but it is hoped it will be sometime during the summer.
Zoe Gibbard, M&S head of region for South East Midlands, said: "Shopping habits are changing, so we’re reshaping our store estate to ensure it meets the needs of customers today – and those of tomorrow.
"As part of this transformation, we have today announced that our M&S Home store on Lister Gate will not reopen again to customers and all colleagues will move to work in our main Nottingham M&S store on Albert Street.
"We appreciate that this will be disappointing news for some, but we believe this is the right decision to ensure a sustainable future in Nottingham and the best possible offer for local customers.
" We have previously announced our plans to open a new M&S store in the local area at Giltbrook Retail Park which we are hoping to open in summer 2020 and we will keep the community updated as the works on this new store progress.”
