Marks & Spencer is dumping more than 275,000 sq ft of space on to the struggling high street.
The retailer has instructed CBRE to dispose of its leases on five stores across the UK as part of its wider rationalisation strategy.
Stores being sold include three outlet stores in Aldershot, Hampshire; Pontypridd, South Wales; and Hounslow in west London; and two full-line stores in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, where it has traded for more than four decades; and in Wood Green, N3.
Leases across the properties range in length but all are due to expire in less than 10 years.
M&S is downsizing its general merchandising portfolio as sales across the business line continue to decline.
Its UK portfolio currently spans almost 17m sq ft in 858 stores, of which 229 are high street shops and 46 are outlets.
In its latest annual review, the group said: “Our strategy is for general merchandising space to remain flat, although we will continue to manage our estate to improve the quality of stores for our customers.”
In the year ended 28 March 2015, M&S closed five high street stores and three outlets.
The five stores currently on the market are all either ageing stores, where M&S has been in occupation for as long as 88 years, or in towns where sales have declined.
According to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium, footfall on the UK’s high streets dipped by 2.2% last month. And while vacancy rates have fallen to their lowest level since 2011, at 9.8%, declines in actual shoppers on the street is causing some concern that vacancies may start to rise again.
