Retail giant M&S reveals it is looking to open new Hartlepool store
Retail giant Marks and Spencer has confirmed that it is looking to open a new Hartlepool store.
The town is on a list of 500 target locations where the company wants to either open new or bigger food outlets.
Hartlepool is currently home to to a M&S food store at Anchor Retail Park.
The company “is particularly looking for large sites that could stock the full range of M&S food” and wants premises of around 18,000 square feet.
Other North-East locations on the new list include Middlesbrough, Yarm, Guisborough and Bishop Auckland.
M&S has launched its search “following the excellent performance of the new M&S Food stores opened in the last three years”.
More than 20 stores are already due to open or be modernised before the end of the current financial year and are expected to create around 800 jobs.
Alex Freudmann, the managing director M&S Food, said: “The strong performance of our new M&S food stores gives us the confidence to explore even more locations across the UK, from Elgin to Exmouth.
"With more than 20 stores opening or modernised before the end of the financial year, we are moving faster.
"Our team want new sites where we could open a large M&S Food store as we deliver on our strategy to bring the right stores to the right places and offer the best shopping experience, range and availability for our customers.”
Hartlepool’s main M&S store, which was situated in the town’s Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, closed more than a decade ago in 2014.