'A sad day' for Lanarkshire as town centre Marks and Spencer store closes

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Marks and Spencer in Hamilton's town centre has welcomed shoppers through its doors for the last time today (Tuesday).The major British retailer, which has had an outlet in the town since 1968, will close this afternoon making way for a new M&S Food hall 10 minutes away at the Hamilton Retail Park.Staff, some of whom had 50 years service at the town centre store, are set to gather at 3pm today at the entrance to the Regent Shopping Centre store and fondly look back on their time at the iconic Hamilton building.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android Until last year, Bel Reid worked there for 40 years and will be one of the group meeting today.

He told Lanarkshire Live : "There is a group of staff who are meeting on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the years we had at the Hamilton town centre store. "We were like a wee family and had lots of happy times and made many a friend over the years - in both staff and customers."The store was the anchor of Hamilton and it will be deeply missed.

It really is a sad day."Marks and Spencer say the majority of employees, of which there was 64 permanent members of staff, have been redeployed to the new food hall, which will open tomorrow (Wednesday, March 30) with a special ribbon cutting at 9am.It will be led by by store manager Lorraine McGurk, who has worked for M&S