Marks & Spencer has announced it will close stores in Tallaght, Mullingar, Dun Laoghaire And Naas in the next few weeks, resulting in 180 redundancies.
M&S made the announcement this morning, following the completion of a strategic store review in its Irish operation. Of the stores earmarked for closure, the Mullingar, Tallaght, and Simply Food Naas stores opened in 2007, while the Simply Food Dun Laoghaire store opened in 2003.
Jonathan Glenister, Head of M&S Ireland said that while M&S remains "fully committed" to its Irish business, "the retail sector outlook has not improved and we have to act now to protect the long term good of the company. We have carried out a strategic store review and it is with regret that we are now closing four unprofitable stores.
“Our first duty is to our affected store teams and we have spoken to them directly today. We will now do all that we can to help them through the coming weeks and support them with their future employment needs. We are now closely engaging with our Union Officials from Mandate and SIPTU on all matters arising."
M&S also announced this morning that it is to develop a new flagship M&S store in Limerick, which is scheduled to open in 2016, while it will also be investing in the rest of its store portfolio here, including the repositioning of the Grafton Street store as an 'M&S regional centre'.
© 2013 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
