Staff have been informed this morning
It has been announced today that the M&S store in Drogheda’s Laurence Shopping Centre is to close on March 8th after 19 years in business. In a brief statement issued this morning, a spokesperson for the popular store said:
“Unfortunately, due to declining footfall and sales, M&S has had to make the difficult decision to close the M&S Drogheda store. This will impact 57 employees (38 FTE), and staff have been informed this morning.
Eddie Murphy, M&S Country Director Ireland & Northern Ireland, said:
“M&S is committed to Ireland and we have ambitious plans for growth including doubling the number of Irish-based suppliers we work with. Our recent Christmas trading figures show we’re heading in the right direction. However, we also need to modernise our business to safeguard what we have achieved.
“Shopping habits are changing, and we are shaping our store estate to focus our investment on the right stores in the right places.
“We have made the tough decision to close our Drogheda store because the shopping centre has low occupancy – requiring significant investment – and its sales performance is behind the rest of our store estate. We’ve shared this news with affected colleagues today and our priority now is to support them through these changes.
“We understand there will be some disappointment with our announcement, but we believe that this decision is the right one for the future of M&S in Ireland – allowing us to invest in our store estate, expand our Irish supply base and continue to build our partnership with Applegreen, whilst offering our customers exceptional value, quality, service and innovation.”
“There will be no further comment at this time.” No date has been given for the impending closure.
