City centre M&S Foodhall to close due to ‘changing’ shopping habits

A well-liked metropolis centre M&S Foodhall is about to shut its doorways this summer season following expiry of the lease.

Management at Newport’s Friars Walk M&S knowledgeable workers on the department on Tuesday 7 September, with buyers sharing their frustration on social media following numerous updates from native information pages.

The busy retailer is taken into account one of many attracts of Newport metropolis centre, with the department working from its present website on the Friars Walk Development since its inception in 2010.

Shoppers will now have to journey to the M&S retailer on Malpas Road, the M&S Foodhall at Newport Retail Park in Spytty, which sells groceries and clothes.

Richard Owen, M&S Regional Manager, shared: “Customer shopping habits are altering, and as a part of our UK‑large retailer rotation programme, we’re regularly reviewing our retailer property to guarantee we’ve got the correct shops in the correct locations, with the correct house to ship a superb shopping expertise.

“Following the current expiry of our lease, we’ve got determined to close the M&S retailer in Newport Gwent at Friars Walk in direction of the tip of June 2026.

“We understand this will be disappointing for some customers and colleagues. Our priority is to support our colleagues through this change, including exploring alternative roles at nearby M&S stores wherever possible. We will continue serving Newport customers through those nearby stores and online.”

Ongoing closures

The closure of the Newport metropolis centre department comes amid the chain’s wider technique to close underperforming shops, and follows the information that the retailer’s Oxford Street retailer in Swansea, which has been open since 1957 and operates as a full-line department with a café, is expected to shut in late 2026, topic to session.

Writing to council chief Rob Steward, M&S Head of External Affairs Adam Hawksbee stated age resolution kinds a part of a UK-wide programme geared toward guaranteeing shops are within the “right space to deliver an excellent shopping experience”.

The retailer stated the transfer follows a sustained decline in gross sales over the previous 10 years, leaving the shop now not viable in its present format.

In an announcement, the corporate stated the programme is designed to guarantee it has “the right stores, in the right place, with right space.”