New look Marks and Spencer officially opened

Mayoress Monica Rush watches as Megan Hargreaves cuts the ribbon

The newly refurbished Marks and Spencer in Rochdale Town Centre was officially opened this morning (Friday 7 March).

Mayoress Monica Rush declared the store open after Megan Hargreaves, who has 41 years service with the store, cut the ribbon.

The store has new signage and windows, new fitting rooms, flooring, display kits on food and general merchandising, ordering desks and new Ipads.

Manager of the store, Nick Bluer is very pleased with the transformation and said: “We are absolutely ecstatic with the refurbishment and think it has made a real difference to the store. We saw that footfall was slightly down and now we are seeing that it is slowly increasing.”

Nick was also quick to thank his staff, members of Rochdale Council and the Town Centre Management team for their support. He added: “I am so proud of my staff for all of their hard work at helping bring the store together over the last six weeks. I would also like to thank the council, members of RDA and the Town Centre Management team for all of their support.”

The store has seen £500,000 spent on the refurbishment and the company has employed 14 new members of staff as well as adding 150 new lines of food.

Members of Rochdale Council, Rochdale Development Agency and the Town Centre Management team were at he opening of the store, which included a Bucks Fizz reception with nibbles. A raffle also took place with the lucky winner taking home an M&S food hamper.

Council Leader, Councillor Colin Lambert, Marks and Spencer store manager Nick Bluer and Chief Executive of Rochdale Council Jim Taylor