Marks and Spencer (M&S) will be creating 200 new jobs over the next year as it plans to invest £12.5million into its London stores.
The investment is on top of the £10.3million M&S spent on its stores in the capital last year - which created 200 jobs.
The move has meant overall the chain created 400 new jobs in its London stores.
The upmarket supermarket plans to double the "total new square footage" across its stores in the capital compared to last year.
Currently, the retailer has more than 100 shops in London with two new openings coming soon.
M&S will be opening a new store in Croydon on Thursday and a food hall in Earlsfield, London in the Autumn - creating 200 new jobs across these areas.
These openings are part of 20 new stores M&S plans to open this year.
The chain also plans a revamp of its Victoria Cardinal Place branch.
In addition, the supermarket chain will be opening a new M&S Foodhall in Liverpool Street Station and will relaunch its M&S store at Waterloo Station through franchise partnerships.
Stuart Machin, chief executive at M&S said: “M&S has been innovating in London for over a hundred years.
"We’re proud that many of our high street ‘firsts’ were born in the capital – from operating a chain of penny bazaars across London in the early 20th century to opening our first ever Simply Food here in 2001.
"Today, a third of all M&S stores are located in London and today’s investment shows that we are committed to offering shoppers in our great capital city the best of M&S for the next 100 years and beyond.”
The clothing and food retailer is currently working on a major shake-up of its 550 stores in the UK.
In October last year, M&S announced it was to close 67 of its “lower productivity, full line stores” over the next five financial years.
However, during this same period, it plans to launch 104 more M&S Simply Food shops in the UK.
Seven new M&S sites have been confirmed to be opening this year and the chain has told the Mirror that the plans are "still on track" for their openings.
These sites include:
- Liverpool - expected Summer 2023
- Stockport - expected Summer 2023
- Birmingham Bullring - expected Autumn 2023
- Barnsley - expected Autumn 2023
- Largs - expected Winter 2023
- Lakeside Thurrock - Winter 2023
- Trafford Centre - Winter 2023
