We take a tour of the new M&S in Birmingham Bullring

Birmingham’s new M&S store in the Bullring opened its doors to customers on Tuesday morning (November).

As the retail giant’s landmark store in Birmingham’s High Street closed on Monday afternoon, shoppers flocked to the new look M&S in the city’s shopping centre.

The M&S Birmingham Bullring team gathered at the store entrance at 10am with store managers who were joined by guests of honour Percy Pig and Colin the Caterpillar, to cut the ribbon and declare the store officially open.

Soaking up the opening day celebrations, Store Manager Emily King, who has worked at M&S for over 18 years, said: “We are thrilled to officially open our brand-new store today in Birmingham city centre at the iconic Bullring. The last few weeks have been so exciting for us all as we’ve seen the store take shape, and I’d like to thank everyone in the team for all their hard work to make sure everything is ready for our loyal customers today.”

Fellow Store Manager, Naomi Hartley, who job shares the role with Emily and has also worked at M&S for 18 years, said: “The store is an exciting investment in the future of M&S in Birmingham, and I can’t wait for our customers to explore all the new features that the store has to offer.

“Along with our existing Birmingham team of 145 colleagues, we’re really pleased to introduce over 100 new recruits to M&S Birmingham Bullring who can’t wait to meet everyone. With an amazing new, fresh market feel Foodhall and a Clothing, Home & Beauty department which is the perfect place to shop your M&S favourites, we really do have the best of M&S here for everyone to enjoy!”

For 130 years Marks and Spencer has been a stalwart of British retailing - it’s a position that looks set to continue as the group embarks on a major round of new store openings, which in turn will create around 2200 new jobs.

The new 65,000 sq ft store in Birmingham’s Bullring is just the beginning. Eight more are set to open this month, with a total investment of 80 million pounds. This signals a strong endorsement for traditional retailing after a turbulent period that saw the closure of many well-known brands, including Debenhams who used to have a branch right here.

Highlights of the new store include the food hall, where customers will find fresh displays with produce from M&S Selected Farms, and a bigger than ever M&S Bakery offering freshly baked bread, cakes and pastries throughout the day. There will also be a dedicated M&S wine shop.

The new store is also creating more than 90 new jobs in Birmingham and the West Midlands and follows the retailer’s recent announcement that it plans to invest around £500 million in its store rotation programme - creating more than 3,400 new jobs nationwide.

M&S say this November will see the biggest number of new stores opened in its history. It’s An investment totalling eighty million pounds. A massive vote of confidence in the future of traditional bricks and mortar retailing.