M&S reveals giant food store expansion in UK town - opens April 7

Marks & Spencer has revealed where in the UK its next store opening will be - and it opens in days. The retail giant has already opened three new shops over the last two weeks as it seeks to attract more family shoppers and double the size of its food business.

The Daily Express can exclusively reveal that M&S's next large, family format food store will open in Whetstone, north London, on April 7. The renewed branch has been extended, with its floorspace increased from 9,600 sq ft to 14,500 sq ft. The store expansion also generated an extra 30 jobs at the outlet in Whetstone's High Road.

Whetstone's M&S includes a new in-store bakery and coffee counter, with hot drinks served by baristas, as part of an overall renewal of the store's design.

It also boasts a cheese barge laden with selected cheeses as well as dedicated flower and wine shops. The store's Click and Collect point has also been redesigned as part of the major refurb.

News of M&S's next store opening comes after the retailer opened three new branches over the past fortnight, generating more than 200 jobs and adding to the retailer's roster of new or renewed shops opened in the 2025-26 financial year.

A 15,000 sq ft food store opened at Oldings Corner retail park in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, while another covering 16,000 sq ft was launched in Luton, Bedfordshire. The third welcomed customers in Farnham, Surrey, on Wednesday (March 25). Video shared with the Daily Express gives viewers a peak inside the Farnham store.

The three recent openings follow the refurb and extension of M&S's Westway branch in Chelmsford, Essex.

M&S said each of the three new shops stock all or most of the products from its M&S Food catalogue. This includes the retailer's "Remarksable Value" and "Bigger Pack Better Value" ranges.

Luton and Farnham are two of 12 former Homebase sites M&S is developing across the country. The first in Cannock opened in December and is triple the size of the former shop. Food sales have more than doubled at the new branch, according to M&S.

Alex Freudmann, Managing Director at M&S Food, said in a statement: "We're transforming M&S Food and we want every store we have to offer the very best of the food range to our customers - from trusted value to exceptional quality and innovation.

"To do that, we are finding the right store locations with the right space across the UK that can allow us to offer the widest possible product range for customers and families.

"This month, we're bringing M&S Food to three new towns and we have a strong pipeline of new openings planned for the year ahead."

Under its expansion plans, M&S is also searching for new, large sites across 500 locations in the UK as the high street stalwart aims to grow the target size of its food stores to an average 18,000sqft.