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
Manchester City finally release special Year of the Horse collection for Lunar celebrations
Danny Jones
Manchester City have officially launched their new ‘Year of the Horse’ kit, along with several other items in their latest lifestyle range.
The collection, which has been released as part of the Lunar New Year Celebrations, was leaked online in late 2025 before being officially teased earlier this year, but now Man City have fully unveiled the limited edition clothing items.
It follows the commercial success of their previous Chinese New Year-inspired kits and wider fashion lines over the last few seasons.
For anyone not up to speed on their Zodiac calendar knowledge, 2026 is officially (you guessed it) the year of the horse, hence this choice for the new ‘Capsule Collection’.
“Set in earthy, neutral tones, the limited-edition Year of the Horse Capsule Collection captures both the stillness of vintage Chinese portraiture and the motion of a team in full stride.”
Revolving around a grey and almost beige colour palette, the full drop includes a new pre-match ‘Anthem’ jacket, a dark graphic design tee, a baseball cap, as well as a soft horse plushie.
The focal point, however, is obviously the jersey itself – though it remains to be confirmed whether or not the special seasonal strip will be worn in any games this campaign as other one-off/special limited edition shirts have been in the past.
The price points range from £15 for the soft toy to £90 for the adult shirt, with the aforementioned Puma KING Anthem zip-up jacket already available in six colours.
What do you make of the latest lifestyle collection, Blues?
Somewhat fittingly, the Year of the Horse and other items finally debuted on the same day that their local rivals across the other side of town, Manchester United, released some new threads of their own: the second Adidas x The Stone Roses collection.
As for this years Lunar celebrations, the official plans for here in Manchester city centre have now been revealed. You can find out more down below.
Manchester United officially launch second Adidas fashion collab with The Stone Roses
Danny Jones
After several weeks of teasers, the latest fashion collab between Adidas, Manchester United and The Stone Roses has officially revealed.
We have no doubt this one will be lapped up just as quickly as the first.
Following images of the new Stone Roses x Man United kit and the focal point of this new collection being leaked online earlier this month, the second drop by Adidas has now been unveiled in full.
Releasing another stylistic video to the tune of the legendary Manc band’s famous anthem, ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, players both past and present from the men’s and women’s team star in the launch video.
As you can see, not only did the players get involved with the shoot as expected, but the clip also includes a snippet of archive footage featuring a young Ian Brown in a short but profound talking head.
The Stone Roses frontman, and indeed other members of the band, have never made their love of United a secret – none more so than the late, great Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield – and the supporters have also shared plenty of it back.
Be it through ‘This Is The One’ being chosen by Gary Neville as the official walk-out song at Old Trafford and various chants sung to Stone Roses tunes, to the previous collab back in February 2024, the two iconic cultural brands pretty much go hand in hand.
Besides the next multi-coloured paint-splashed shirt, which leaked first, as well as a new bucket hat (again, very era appropriate), there are scarves, a graphic design t-shirt, two sets of shorts and even two different pairs of shoes.
Images of the white Stone Roses trainers also popped up in leaks across various Man United fan accounts on social media, but few had seen the black ZX 600 Adidas trainers until now.
What do you make of the latest batch of lifestyle fashion from the club?
Meanwhile, with just days left in the transfer window, it remains to be seen whether new interim manager Michael Carrick will be rewarded for his first two wins against the top two in the league with any reinforcements before the end of January – but there are some rumblings…
Emily Sergeant -
1st December 2023 
