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Marks & Spencer returns to Paris

Matthew Warren
Matthew Warren - [email protected]
Marks & Spencer returns to Paris
Screenshot from Marks & Spencer website

After a ten-year absence, British retailer Marks & Spencer opens its doors again in Paris on Thursday morning.

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The new store, situated at 100 Avenue des Champs-Elysées, will have 1,400 square metres of selling space across three floors.

French media gave large amounts of coverage to welcome the return of the classic British brand on Thursday. The store will stock women's clothing, lingerie and food.

Excited French shoppers told BFM TV they were most thrilled about the return to the capital of favourites such as crumpets, jam and English biscuits. "It's really given me a boost as I work nearby and can come here for my lunch," said one.

Marks & Spencer said it has plans to open five more stores in the region in coming years, including one of 7,000 square metres in the So Ouest shopping mall in the western suburb of Levallois-Perret.

There are even plans to open a chain of the food-only "Simply Food" stores around the French capital to compete with stores such as Monoprix.

Fans of British food will be cheered by the news that sandwich chain Pret-a-Manger also plans to open stores in the French capital in 2012.

The closure of the company's 18 stores ten years ago caused disappointment among French fans and British expatriates, as well as anger from unions over the 1,700 job losses that resulted.

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