The return of Marks & Spencer

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The UK’s food and clothing retailer Mark and Spencer has announced it will be back in Brussels with a brand new store in 2015. The store will be located in a new shopping centre being built on Avenue Toison d’Or near Porte Louise in uptown Brussels.

The announcement means that after an absence of what by then will be 14 years, M&S will once again have a presence in the Belgian capital.

In the autumn of last year, Mark & Spencer opened an internet web shop aimed at Belgian customers. The web shop offers a range of lingerie, women’s, men’s and children’s fashion and items for the home. A spokesman for the chain said that Belgians make the most use of the international delivery system offered by its website.

Marks & Spencer closed its four Belgian stores including one and the Meir in Antwerp and one on the rue Neuve in Brussels in 2001 as part of a cost-cutting exercise. Some 300 jobs were lost as a result of the closure of the four Belgian stores.

The company also closed its other 34 stores on mainland Europe, 18 of which were in France. The chain has since returned to Paris, having opened a new store on the Champs-Elysées in 2011.