Marks & Spencer could close French stores
Marks & Spencer has said it is reviewing the future of its franchise business in France as European border restrictions following the UK’s exit from the EU continue to impact product availability in its French stores.
According to a report in The Mail on Sunday, the retailer is set to scale back the business, and may even stop selling popular items such as sandwiches and chilled food in the country altogether, after holding talks with its franchise partners.
The newspaper said M&S could make an announcement on the future of the business in the next few weeks.
While the retailer declined to comment on potential closures, a spokesperson for M&S told The Mail on Sunday: “In light of the new customs arrangements, we are taking decisive steps to reconfigure our European operations and have already made changes to food exports into Czech Republic. We operate a franchise business in France and are undertaking a review of the model with our two partners.”
