It’s been a long time coming… but the brand-new M&S at the Trafford Centre has finally opened its doors to the public.
And the first look images of the place prove it’s just as swanky as we were expecting.
In case you hadn’t heard, after it was revealed all the way back in January that M&S would be relocating from its old unit and taking over the former Debenhams site inside the Greater Manchester shopping centre, the retailer’s brand-new Trafford Centre store welcomed its first customers yesterday.
The new ‘mega store’ officially threw open its doors yesterday (30 November) at 10am, and it’s all just in time for Christmas, so shoppers can get stuck in to buying all their festive food and gifts before the big day arrives.
The brand-new M&S at the Trafford Centre has finally opened its doors / Credit: Supplied
Having opened as part of M&S‘ ongoing plans and wider investment to regenerate vacant sites in major UK shopping centres, the new M&S Trafford Centre store spans across a whopping 98,000 sq ft of commercial space.
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Promising shoppers “an even bigger and better store”, there’s huge new “spacious and stylish” Clothing, Home, and Beauty departments, as well as a brand-new M&S Cafe, and the star of the show being the all-new “market style” Food Hall – which stocks the full M&S Food range, and has “wider and brighter aisles”, with free designated car parking to make shopping “more convenient”.
Percy Pig was on-hand to welcome shoppers to the new store, with the first 200 customers through the door handed ‘golden tickets’.
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Every golden ticket holder was guaranteed a win. whether that be a free bag of Percy Pigs, freshly-baked cookies from the new M&S Bakery, or something even bigger – with one lucky customer even bagging a £200 M&S voucher to take home.
It promises shoppers “an even bigger and better store” / Credit: Supplied
180 new jobs have been created by the opening of the new store, and staff at M&S’ former Trafford Centre store have also transferred over to the new location.
The store is led by Store Manager, Laura Smith, along with a team of 420 M&S colleagues.
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Soaking up the opening day celebrations, Laura said: “We are thrilled to officially open our brand-new store in the Trafford Centre. The last few weeks have been so exciting for us all as we’ve seen the store take shape, and I’d like to thank everyone in the team for all their hard work to make sure everything is ready for our customers today.
“The store is an exciting investment in the future of M&S in Trafford, and I can’t wait for our customers to explore all the new features that the store has to offer.”
The new M&S Trafford Centre store is now open from 8am-10pm Monday to Friday, 8am-9pm on Saturday, and 12-6pm on Sunday.
Featured Image – Supplied
Shopping
IKEA are hosting a wide range of FREE Christmas activities this winter
Thomas Melia
The flat-pack champions are putting on lots of fantastic events for IKEA members and customers to get involved with this Christmas.
What better way to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year than to get stuck in with some festive arts and crafts while spreading Christmas cheer?
Even better still, it’s all free!
IKEA have hosted many free events across the holidays and they’re back again this December running a whole host of holiday craft and creative workshops over at their big Ashton-Under-Lyne branch.
Credit: IKEA
Although there may be no seats left at Santa’s breakfast table on Saturday, 7 December, visitors who book now can expect to decorate some delicious decorations at their ‘Gingerbread Creations’ workshop from 11:30am to 4pm.
The following day, you can try your hand at sprucing up your own Christmas tree (once again 11:30am-4pm) by making personalised ornaments with the help of their ‘Tree-rific Decorations’ event on Sunday, 8 December.
There’s also a chance you can show off your ultimate seasonal style in another free festive event which is even suitable for those who might not have a creative streak in them.
Start curating your best snazzy outfits and frocks this festive period, with the homeware retailer putting on a weekend set to feature more Christmas jumpers than any fashion week ever has.
If you aren’t all Christmas-sed out, from 13 to 15 December, you can also embrace the festivities by sporting your best seasonal stuff in-store from 9am until 5pm for their ‘Festive Wear Weekend’.
Once again, all these free festive activities are suitable for everyone, especially families, so why not treat yourself to a nice day out and embrace the holiday season in true Swedish fashion? Quite literally.
You’ll have to act fast if you’re planning on getting involved though, as the Scandinavian furniture company is making way for a total of seven free Christmas activities; their ‘Saint Lucia’, ‘Santa’s Christmas Eve Plate’ and ‘Winter Wreaths for Adults’ workshops are all fully booked already.
Anyone looking to stock up on Christmas activities and squeeze in some quality time in their ever-so-hectic December calendar can do so on IKEA’s website HERE.
Featured Images — IKEA/Zboralski (via Wikimedia Commons)
Shopping
Bents Garden Centre – the Christmas wonderland that everyone, including Molly-Mae Hague, obsesses over
Daisy Jackson
Don’t ask us when it happens, but there’s a point in life where you favourite place on earth becomes a garden centre.
And garden centres don’t come much fancier than Bents Garden Centre, an enormous sprawl of a building filled with the obvious stuff (like, you know, garden plants) but also so much more.
The Warrington favourite is never more popular than at Christmas, when it turns into a twinkling wonderland and people from across the north west make the pilgrimage.
There are colourful decorations spilling out from every corner, from themed baubles to fairy lights to festive soft furnishings.
Bents Garden Centre does not hold back on its decorating – this year alone there are Alpine dining scenes, a life-size car with presents spilling out of the boot, and an arctic landscape with polar bears and igloos.
That’s on top of a whole display inspired by an ice cream parlour, and others that take inspiration from woodland and The Grinch.
There’s also a winter food market, where wooden lodges sell everything from Yorkshire pudding wraps to bratwurst sausages to beef brisket sandwiches.
Inside Bents Garden Centre at Christmas. Credit: The Manc Group
In the outside space there are heated dining globes, decorated with plants, blankets and bunting.
Bents garden centre is so popular, it even had a fairly famous visitor a couple of years ago, when Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury popped in for a day out, documenting the whole thing to her (at the time) 1.7m YouTube subscribers.
She proudly showed off a trolley piled high with food-themed baubles, in the shape of cakes, doughnuts, gingerbread men, candy canes, and even a giant pink lollipop.
She said: “Don’t ask me why we’ve never come here before. It’s SO cosy.”
Molly-Mae added: “This garden centre, Bents, in I think Warrington, it’s unbelievable. I don’t know why we’ve never come here before.
“It’s kind of like a farm shop too, they’ve got food and food stalls. I am so excited to come back here with a baby next year, like it’s so special.
“It is quite expensive I’m not gonna lie, to get all the decorations and things, but we’ll keep them each year and reuse them.”
Emily Sergeant -
1st December 2023 
