Marks and Spencers Wood Green

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on August 1, 2015 at 7:16

Nor was the letter from Haringey Council effective either, but then none of the nine store closures proposed back in June has been rescinded.

The Guardian article observes that "M&S would not open any extra space to sell clothing meaning that new openings in Longbridge in the West Midlands and Charlton in south London are being offset by closures.  However, the growth of M&S’s food sales means it has committed to opening 250 new Simply Food stores by 2017."

The Charlton store (full service, not just food) is a shed in a retail park, not a high street store - perhaps that's an indicator for M&S's future strategy - like Next, which has a unit at Arena Retail Park (and in Shopping City but not a shop on Wood Green High Road).

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on August 1, 2015 at 9:23

Re  2) - and are prepared to spend hours stuck in the retail park car park at the weekend.....

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte on August 1, 2015 at 9:42

M&S have been running that store down for years.  When I arrived here there was a Habitat, Waterstone, Pearsons, Cargo, Woolworths, etc. and a few years ago talk of Debenhams coming to the area.  It is a bit bizzare that as housing becomes more and more expensive the traditional high street names disappear.  Power of the internet?  Crouch End is the same - cafes and charity shops so not unique to our area.

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Permalink Reply by SarahC on August 1, 2015 at 12:09

Yes, Pizza Express - that supposed indicator of gentrification - closed down in Crouch End just after I moved there. The supermarkets there are massively better than they used to be, though; then there was just the ropey pre-makeover Budgens - no Waitrose, M&S or Tesco.

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Permalink Reply by Sapphireblue on August 7, 2015 at 12:47

9+ charity shops in Crouch End now. I love a few charity shops, but I feel it's destroyed the diversity and variety of a local community area. 

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on August 1, 2015 at 9:49

....and here are some happier times for the store when it was launched as the company's first fully-fledged self-service outlet in 1948

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on August 1, 2015 at 10:22

And your earlier post of Pathe footage about Shopping City being developed ( here ) has footage, near the end, of the reporter being driven southbound along the High Road in the mid-70s - look at the shopfronts then.

Shopping City opened with the 'anchor store' being D H Evans (later a name-change to House of Fraser), now the space is occupied by Primark. 

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on August 1, 2015 at 10:52

I've just watched again and it was interesting to hear about the "problem" of there being all too many big name stores along the high street - a problem in that it apparently dissuaded John Lewis from agreeing to take a spot in Shopping City. 

As you say, the footage at the end includes a drive along the high street showing many of the shops that were there at the time.

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on August 1, 2015 at 16:51

Meine lieben Volk und Fuehrer,

Wood Green needs more Germans. The retail space occupied by Marks & Spencers for the past 67 years seems ideally suited to a larger ALDI outlet. Its presence on the High Road would keep Lymington LiDL on its toes. LiDL, alas, shows signs of going native, apparently treating its managers and workers more leniently than strict discipline demands.

O.A.E. 

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