SCOTLAND: M&S And Next Open New Stores In Scotland

Retail giants, Next and Marks & Spencer, are both putting Scotland on their list when it comes to opening new stores. Buoyant Next, which has 14 stores in East Scotland and 13 in West Scotland, is opening another store on Thursday at the Eastgate shopping centre in Inverness. Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer, which opened a store at Braehead near Glasgow a year ago, is gearing up to open the doors at another Scottish site - a new outlet store in Livingston. The Livingston store is part of three outlet stores, the other two in England, being opened by M&S to cater for the growing discount market. It is due to open on November 16. M&S has 21 stores in Scotland, including five department stores and six regional stores. The retail giant employs 5,000 people north of the border. In the last five years, it has spent £19m on core investment and £26m on footage developments in Scotland. A spokesman said: "We are delighted with the success of the Braehead store which has more than exceeded our expectations." And M&S' expansion in Scotland is not over yet. The retailer is opening a new neighbourhood food store at Milngavie in 2000/2001.