Marks & Spencer opens first store in mainland China
06 Oct '08
2 min read
Marks & Spencer opened a flagship store on West Nanjing Road, Shanghai's premier shopping street. The 40,000 square foot store is Marks & Spencer's first in mainland China and is it's largest in Asia.
Trading over four floors, the store will showcase a wide range of fashion and home products, as well as a M&S Café. It also has one of the widest food ranges of any M&S international store, with 1000 lines including a full wine shop, grocery products and frozen lines such as fish pies, Yorkshire puddings, melting middle chocolate puddings and cakes.
Marks & Spencer has renovated the iconic Wings department store with an emphasis on sustainable design. In keeping with Plan A, Marks & Spencer's 100-point eco-plan, the store boasts sustainable features such as environmentally friendly wall paneling and water saving toilets. The store also features energy efficient lighting and double glazed curtain walls that help insulate the building.
Richard Sweet, Managing Director, Marks & Spencer China, said: “We see China as an exciting long-term opportunity and the Shanghai store is our first step into a market that has real potential. China has a fast-growing economy and around 30% of customers in some of our Hong Kong stores are from mainland China. They love our good quality, value products, so we believe there is a demand for M&S in China. We're delighted to have secured such a prime location in Shanghai and look forward to welcoming Chinese shoppers to the store.”