Bosses at Marks & Spencer have announced that their new flagship store for Bristol will open in Cabot Circus in less than a year’s time. Posters announcing the ‘exciting news’ have been pasted on the boarded up old House of Fraser store in the shopping centre proclaiming that the new M&S will open in ‘autumn 2025’.
M&S is investing £21 million in the new store, which will takeover the three floors of House of Fraser with clothing, home, beauty, and food departments, and what is expected to be the one of the biggest M&S cafes in the country
Bristol Live broke the news that M&S would be returning to Bristol city centre back in July, as Cabot Circus bosses decided to end House of Frasers’ tenure in their shopping centre, and replace the biggest and most important store there with M&S instead.
The opening means M&S will return to the city centre after its store in Broadmead closed in January 2022 after 70 years. The chain still has a main outlet at The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, as well as food stores at Imperial Park, Whiteladies Road, Avonmeads, Eastgate and Longwell Green.
At the time, chief executive Stuart Machin said the move was about ‘having the right stores in the right place’. “At Cabot Circus, we’re able to create a flagship store which delivers the best possible shopping experience for customers and showcases the very best of M&S,” he said.
“Our store rotation programme is all about ensuring we have the right stores in the right place and with the right space to excite and inspire our customers, including in city centres. This £21m investment will allow us to do just that while expanding our footprint across the South West,” he added.
The new M&S will be one of the biggest in the country. “Our store rotation strategy is all about providing customers with the right stores with the right space in the right locations and this spot in Bristol is exactly where we want to be,” said M&S property director Will Smith said.
“When it opens, the Cabot Circus store will be one of the largest and most modern M&S stores in the UK, offering the full range to customers and marking a welcome return for M&S to Bristol City Centre,” he added.
The opening programme comes in the same week Cabot Circus announced it had found a replacement cinema firm to take over the old Showcase Cinema, which forms another anchor venue within the city centre shopping mall. While the news that Odeon would be opening up in Cabot Circus, the move puts the future of the historic Odeon cinema in Union Street in doubt.