Marks & Spencer is to open 20 large stores and create 3,400 jobs as part of a £500m plan to rejuvenate its presence on the high street after bumper Christmas trading. The retail chain – which in October said it would close 67 of its “lower productivity” sites that sold clothes and homeware, about a quarter of its estate of bigger stores – said it planned to open the 20 “bigger, better” stores in locations across the UK in the next financial year. The company intends to open eight “full-line” stores, offering clothing, homeware and food, in shopping centres such as the Bullring in Birmingham and Manchester’s Trafford Centre as well as retail parks and high streets. A number of the stores will take over former sites occupied by the collapsed department store chain Debenhams. Under the £480m investment plan M&S is to open 12 new food halls in communities including Stockport, Barnsley and the seaside town of Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, said a significant presence on the high street was crucial in offering consumers the widest shopping experience. The company is also expanding its Click & Collect offering to 130 stores, while its online sales surged over Christmas. “Stores are a core part of M&S’s omnichannel future and serve as a competitive advantage for how customers want to shop today,” Machin said. “Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space.” Overall, M&S said under its five-year plan its estate of 247 stores would transition to 180 “full-line” sites and it would open more than 100 food sites. By its 2025/26 financial year it aims to run 420 food stores across the UK. The company plans to broaden its franchise model by expanding its convenience store range beyond existing partners including BP, Moto, SSP and Costa. Last week, M&S announced that it took its biggest share of the clothing and homeware market in seven years and the largest slice of the food market ever over Christmas. “Coming off the back of the group’s better-than-expected Christmas trading, it seems Marks & Spencer has rediscovered its mojo,” said Russ Mould, the investment director at AJ Bell. “Whether it can maintain the momentum as the headwinds provided by rising costs and increased pressures on household budgets continue to bear down on the business is the key test facing management.” Marks & Spencer’s new ‘full line’ store locations Liverpool Bullring, Birmingham Lakeside Thurrock, Essex Trafford Centre, Manchester Purley Way, Croydon, south London White Rose, Leeds Two locations to be announced Marks & Spencer’s new food halls Stockport, Greater Manchester Barnsley, South Yorkshire Largs, North Ayrshire Nine sites other sites to be announced