Opinions are mixed over M&S' decision to leave its Church Street home and move into the former Debenhams building.
Marks and Spencer announced it will be closing its Compton House store and moving to Liverpool ONE. All staff in the Church Street store are aware of the plans and will be given the opportunity to transfer to the new store on the corner of Lord Street.
Debenhams closed its Liverpool store in May along with 123 others nationally. The collapse of the retailer saw the loss of around 12,000 jobs.
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Online retailer Boohoo bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m in January. Since the closure of the store in May no other retailer has moved in.
Pete Dobson, Regional Manager for M&S, said: "We’re really excited to announce our plans to open a brand new M&S store in the Liverpool ONE shopping centre. The new store, which we expect to open in mid-2023, will offer the very best of M&S in a prime location in Liverpool city centre.
"Local residents and visitors to the city will be able to shop across a wide range of M&S products in our new Foodhall and Clothing & Home departments, in a fresh, modern store with fully integrated digital technology to support customers however they want to shop.
"In line with this investment in a new M&S store for Liverpool city centre, our existing store at 35 Church Street will close once the new store is ready to open with all colleagues having the opportunity to transfer to work in the new store.”
Opinions of the stores moving were mixed as our reporter Emilie McMahon found out when she spoke to shoppers on Church Street on Friday, May 13. One woman said she thought M&S should stay on Church Street as it was "where Marks and Spencer's belongs".
She said: "I think they should stay where they are. This is much more central and yeah, I don't think they should go, they should stay here because this is where Marks and Spencer's belongs."
Two women, who didn't know M&S was set to move stores, said: "I don't know, I think I like it where it is. It's a beautiful building. I will still shop there but I'd rather it stay where it is." Her friend added: "It's just a shame, why do they need to move it?"
Another woman who comes to the M&S on Church Street from The Wirral said: "They closed our Marks and Spencer's down four or five years ago, so you have to come over here to this one. But there are no problems going to that one (Debenhams)."
Three women who were heading into M&S were asked if they would still shop at Marks and Spencer when it moves to Liverpool ONE, and they all replied yes. One of them said: "It's good (The moving news), it's a shame they will be closing this shop, I mean what's going to go in here?"
