A huge M&S Foodhall in West Lothian will offer customers 6000 food lines and bring 70 new jobs to the county.
West Lothian Council granted permission for two shops at an existing retail park to be converted into the giant new store.
The new Foodhall will be the only one of its kind in the area, with the nearest being in West Edinburgh at the moment.
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The vacant Peacocks and Argos units at the Stockbridge Retail Park in Linlithgow will now be converted into one store
It is expected that the Linlithgow store will sell around 6000 food lines, and the majority of which would be M&S own brands, with the remainder being other branded goods.
M&S anticipates that the Linlithgow store will provide around 70 jobs in a mixture of full and part time positions, with 45 full-time positions.
They will also implement a ‘Marks & Start’ programme in West Lothian, which is a work placement programme that helps people who face barriers getting into work.
The groups the programme is aimed at are single parents, people with disabilities or health conditions and those at risk of homelessness.
West Lothian Council granted permission for the development on February 24 but stipulated a number of conditions, including delivery times to the new store.
Deliveries to the units from the rear service yard shall be restricted to the hours of: Monday to Friday from 7am until 9pm, Saturday 8am until 9pm, Sunday 9am until 6pm.
Marks and Spencers have had to close down many stores recently due to changing customers spending habits, and the coronavirus pandemic.
Triple Jersey Limited prepared the planning application for M&S and they explained the retailer is looking toward food stores in future after years of closures.
They said: “In response M&S has had to make difficult decisions regarding the appropriate locations for investment and those where the company can no longer expect to trade profitably, leading to some 60 M&S stores being closed in recent years and not replaced/relocated.
“This has involved a mix of full line stores and food only stores. A further 15 stores have closed and been replaced with a relocated store. “That included a move toward better, larger food only stores.”
