M&S continues to roll out new and improved stores in the northwest of England as part of a £50 million investment in eight physical retail units, creating 300 new jobs for the region.

The rollout, which began last week at the reopened Gemini Retail Park, Warrington, Cheshire, includes plans for of a total of 100,000 sq ft of new stores including in Speke and Formby, while stores in Thornton-Cleveleys, Blackburn and Bolton will be food-hall based.

The New Mersey Retail Park store in Speke is to move site and undergo a transformation from a Food Hall to a full-line store, creating 100 jobs and bringing M&S Clothing, Home and Beauty to customers in south Liverpool.

Building on the success of the full-line city centre store in Liverpool One, which opened in 2023, the new store in Speke New Mersey “will bring the best of M&S to customers in the south of the city”, it said.

M&S, which has 62-owned stores across northwest England, spanning the region from Carlisle to Chester, said the three-year investment plan “is another step forward in [our] store renewal and rotation programme, focused on having the right stores in the right places and is a key strand in the business’s transformation as it reshapes for growth”. 

The retailer said it’s aiming to have “180 higher-quality, higher-productivity full-line stores that sell the full Clothing, Home and Food offer”.

Will Smith, Property director at M&S, added: “As we reshape for growth, we want to open new stores we can be proud of and that deliver the best possible shopping experience for customers. Our pipeline of stores for 2025 demonstrates our continued investment in market-leading stores as we deliver our transformation priorities.”

Ralph Lauren has opened a new Polo Ralph Lauren boutique in Cannes, boosting its presence in the cinematic capital of France.

Ralph’s new store is located at 63–65 Rue d’Antibes in Cannes, a couple of blocks back from the Croisette, the principal retail thoroughfare of the Mediterranean resort. Ralph Lauren continues to have a flagship store on the main strip at 61 Boulevard de la Croisette.

The new 115-square-meter Cannes store offers iconic Polo Ralph Lauren products for men in bright colors, including knit polos, chinos, Oxford shirts, caps, T-shirts, and more.

“The opening of the new store in Cannes reinforces Ralph Lauren’s focus on strategic cities, always promoting the evolution of the brand and offering a consistent experience to its customers across all its outlets worldwide,” the iconic American brand said in a release.

The Ralph Lauren marque boasts 20 stores or shop-in-shops in France, split between Paris and the Med. Beginning with his Avenue Montaigne store in Paris and his four-floor flagship boutique in St. Germain, which also includes Ralph’s baronial-style-meets-Parisian-terrace restaurant and bar.

Rounding out his retail presence are several shop-in-shops within the department stores Au Bon Marché and Galeries Lafayette, and boutiques in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence.

“Style is a personal affair that has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is ephemeral. Style, on the other hand, is timeless,” Ralph states on his official French website. Rather like the Côte d’Azur.

Struggling retail chain Select Fashion has thrown in the towel and collapsed with reports saying that hundreds of staff have been left without pay following the closure of its stores. However, the selectfashion.co.uk webstore appears to be operational and a number of stores are continuing to trade.

Insolvency specialist Moorfields is winding down the womenswear chain after a creditor’s meeting late last week approved the voluntary liquidation and after it closed 35 stores in the middle of last month with the store closure process having gone on quietly since earlier this year.

Reports said workers at the closed shops won’t be paid outstanding wages for hours worked before the closures happened and have been directed to apply for statutory redundancy pay from the Government.

As for the 48 remaining stores, it’s believed that staff there will see their wages being delayed, although The Sun newspaper quoted an email that assured them their ages would be paid next week.

Neither Select nor Moorfields has issued an official statement about the collapse, although it comes as little surprise in the current tough environment and after the business entered into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) last year overseen by Moorfields.

It’s not the first failure for Select, which was in administration back in 2019 before Genus UK recused it. But Genus went into administration in 2022. The firm has since been owned by Turkish businessman Cafer Mahiroglu and the latest year for which accounts are available (to February 2023) showed it with a pre-tax loss of £1.1 million.