According to the company, the amount of clothing and food available in the King Street store will remain the same but the space will be ‘tightened up’ and the café made smaller to accommodate the home products.
SandpiperCI also said it is in talks with a ‘highly respected international retail brand’ about taking over units in the Liberty Wharf complex, which it bought in March.
Earlier this year the owner of Voisins blamed online shopping, Brexit and the lack of support from the States for town having the highest number of empty retail units for around ten years.
And now Tony O’Neil, chief executive of SandpiperCI, which runs the M&S stores, has warned the situation has not improved and it will only worsen if the States do not take any action.
‘The Island is continuing to be decimated by store closures and we have an unprecedented number of empty units on the market,’ he said. ‘There is over 70,000 sq ft of vacant retail space in St Helier and, in my 11 years of being in Jersey, I have never seen the vacancy rate that high.’
Problems are not isolated to Jersey and are currently being felt across Britain. In the UK, Toys ‘R’ Us, Debenhams, New Look and Poundland are among the stores either issuing profit warnings or closing.
And Mr O’Neil added that the situation in Jersey was being made worse by the introduction of a 20 per cent retail tax.
He said he would soon be lobbying new States Members to reduce the tax to ten per cent.
‘Everyone has heard about UK retailers closing down their stores and the situation is no different here,’ he said.
‘However, we now have a 20 per cent retail tax which deters both existing businesses from investing in their stores and inward investment from businesses outside Jersey.
‘The things we warned about when the tax was proposed are all now coming to fruition and the heady days of retail are no more.’
No redundancies are planned by SandpiperCI as a result of the changes to their stores and the new home section is due to open in King Street on Saturday.
