On Mar 21, 12:09 pm, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 21 Mar, 11:45, "news outlook" wrote:

Anyone know why they closed it? An insufficiency of customers?

There were more staff than customers the few times I went in, and it
was a big shop filled with mostly very perishable stock, so must have
cost a fortune to keep open.

Will it be coming back?

It was the only shop in that part of the station open to customers,
and a long way from anywhere passengers would be wandering past. This
will change with the opening of the Kent platforms and the tunnel to
the Northern Ticket Hall. I'd expect it to reopen when the other shops
at that end of the station do, though they don't seem in any hurry.


M&S made a valiant effort to attract people to visit it, with staff
hanging around the station handing out vouchers for free pastries.
Presumably it wasn't enough. (The only reason I went there was to
avoid the queues in the much-busier M&S Simply Food in the "arcade").

PaulO

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 06:55:13 -0700 (PDT), Paul Oter
wrote:

M&S made a valiant effort to attract people to visit it, with staff
hanging around the station handing out vouchers for free pastries.
Presumably it wasn't enough. (The only reason I went there was to
avoid the queues in the much-busier M&S Simply Food in the "arcade").

I remember some publicity before the opening which suggested that
there's be an M & S within St Pancras with a reasonable range of both
food and clothing. So I was surprised , on my one visit there, to
find most of the space given over to food and only a very limited
range of clothing. And in the absence of other shops open in the area
it wasn't going to attract much passing trade; I went in partly out of
curiosity, partly because I was changing between Thameslink amd the
suburban platforms at Kings Cross.

Martin

In message , at 10:41:08 on
Sun, 23 Mar 2008, Martin Rich remarked:
I remember some publicity before the opening which suggested that
there's be an M & S within St Pancras with a reasonable range of both
food and clothing.

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).
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 10:41:08 on
Sun, 23 Mar 2008, Martin Rich remarked:
I remember some publicity before the opening which suggested that
there's be an M & S within St Pancras with a reasonable range of both
food and clothing.

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).

The place is called Tolworth

And it's been there quite a few more years than 12.

tim

In message , at 15:02:11 on Sun, 23
Mar 2008, "tim (not at home)" 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).

The place is called Tolworth

The postal address is Surbiton, but yes the local area is called
Tolworth.

And it's been there quite a few more years than 12.

I'm sure it has. I've only know it for 12 though (hence my use of the
words "at least").
--
Roland Perry

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:36:19 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

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? I've been in it several times, though
quite a few years ago, and remember it being as you've described.
Interesting to see at http://www.hidden-london.com/tolworth.html that
when it opened - as a Fine Fare - in the 1960s it was the biggest
supermarket in Southern England. M & S took over the site sometime in
the second half of the 1980s.

Martin

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

In message , Roland Perry
writes

Not just biggest, must have been (that long ago) one of the first.
ASDA quote 1963 (Queens in Leeds) as their first,

Beaten by Tesco, who already had a chain of several hundred stores by
1963. Their first actual supermarket was 1956, although they were
operating self-service shops as early as 1947 (and more conventional
retail outlets since soon after the first world war).
--
Paul Terry

Beaten by Tesco, who already had a chain of several hundred stores by
1963. Their first actual supermarket was 1956, although they were
operating self-service shops as early as 1947 (and more conventional
retail outlets since soon after the first world war).

Am I right in thinking that the St Albans Tesco was their first self-service
store?

LEWIS