M&S opens revamped Oxford Street flagship shop with beauty hall

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Marks & Spencer has opened its refurbished store on London’s Oxford Street following a major revamp that it hopes to bring to other locations.

The retailer said it was treating the layout and shop features as a blueprint for future stores.

Food, fashion, home and beauty sections within the shop, named Pantheon, will be spread across four floors and almost 100,000 square feet of shopping space.

New features include a made-to-order suit fitting service within the menswear section and a dedicated beauty hall showcasing own-label ranges and other brands.

A more expansive homeware section will include a Kelly Hoppen range displayed within a section designed by the interior designer and TV personality.

M&S also highlighted features like digital screens showing outfit inspiration, bespoke scents and curated playlists to elevate the shopping experience.

The retailer hopes to emulate the design across its chain of shops, with it in the midst of another five refurbishments and four new store developments in London, as well as additional new openings and renewals across the UK.

This includes a major redevelopment of its Marble Arch shop, which is on the corner London’s Oxford Street, after getting government approval to demolish and rebuild the site in 2024.

That followed a three-year-long planning battle involving court cases and opposition from heritage and sustainability experts, before eventually getting permission from former housing secretary Angela Rayner.

It hopes to rebuild the store into a nine-storey building housing a retail space, a cafe, a gym and an office.

Stuart Machin, M&S’s chief executive, said the refurbished Pantheon opening was “a good example of our strategy to protect the magic and modernise the rest, holding on to the quality, style and value people know and trust us for, while making the experience more modern”.

“We’ve still got a lot to do modernising our estate, with 25 years of catching up to do. But Pantheon is a big step forward,” he added.