The bosses of Marks and Spencer (M&S) have claimed the retailer is "not leaving city centres" amid criticism over its recent round of store closures.
Shareholders are reportedly concerned after the department store chain moved some of its stores to out-of-town developments.
This commitment to Britain's high streets comes soon after M&S announced plans to invest £38million in major stores in Bath and Bristol at its annual general meeting.
Under chief executive Stuart Machin, the retailer has seen an overhaul of its operations which resulted in Marks and Spencer's making drastic changes to its store portfolio.
Back in 2019, the organisation launched 110 store closures as part of its company overhaul which impacted many of its longstanding high street locations.
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High streets have been hit by a wave of store closures since the pandemic, on top of banks shutting down PADuring its AGM yesterday (July 2), M&S bosses asked whether they have “given up on the high street” following the transition to setting up shop in retail parks.
In response, chairman Archie Norman said: “No, we haven’t given up on the high street.
“We have a very important store rotation programme but we are absolutely not trying to leave city centres – that has never been our intention.
“We do have some older stores that are hard and costly to maintain and run so we have to look at that.”
Machin confirmed that the current programme of closures, refurbishments and relocations follows a previous lack of necessary investment.
He explained: “Our store rotation is really a catch-up programme on the last 20 years as we have previously underinvested”
Earlier this week, the retail group announced plans to invest £17million in its new Bath store.
Furthermore, an extra £21million in investment has been reserved for its new site in central Bristol.
These pending store openings are expected to create around 150 new jobs in a boon for the economies of both areas.
During the AGM, shareholders voted heavily in favour of the group’s pay deal for bosses, who have led M&S shares 45 per cent higher over the past year.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
New stores are opening in Bristol and Bath
MARKS & SPENCERAs chief executive, Machin's pay increased by around £2million to £4.7million last year, after larger bonus and long-term share awards.
Some 14,081 shops and outlets closed and exited UK high streets, shopping centres and retail parks in 2023, according to PwC.
This is the equivalent to 39 closures per day.
While this is a slight increase compared to the year before, it is less than the rate of closures calculated between 2016 and 2021.