In message , at 10:26:56 on
Mon, 24 Mar 2008, Martin Rich remarked:
There's an M&S near me, about the same size as the one in The Circle,
and it's approx 25% "housewares and clothes", and the rest is food. Such
stores aren't new, there was one just like it at least 12 years ago in
Surbiton (near the A3, not the station).

As menfioned elsewhere in the thread, this is the one in Tolworth
Tower, overlooking the A3?

Recently sold to the same people as own Centre Point.

I've been in it several times, though quite a few years ago, and
remember it being as you've described.

That's the one.

Interesting to see at http://www.hidden-london.com/tolworth.html that
when it opened - as a Fine Fare -

I wonder if that historical usage was why M&S carried on selling mainly
food?

in the 1960s it was the biggest supermarket in Southern England.

Not just biggest, must have been (that long ago) one of the first.

ASDA quote 1963 (Queens in Leeds) as their first, with what's my local
ASDA being their first superstore (80,000 sq ft) in 1965 which they
claim broke the mould of 10-20k sq ft high street supermarkets.
--
Roland Perry