A horde of excited shoppers quickly swooped on the newly relaunched Marks & Spencer Store at Power Plant, Rockwell, last week as it introduced an M&S Food Hall—only the third so far in the country.
This means getting one’s fix of M&S’ famous “Extremely Chocolatey” line of digestive biscuits has become easier for folks this side of the metro.
Thomas Gray, M&S International’s regional sales director for home and clothing, said he learned that the digestive biscuits are the store’s most popular product in Manila from conversations with the local M&S sales team.
Gray, who is based in Hong Kong and works across Asia for M&S, was present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony held Friday, along with Nedy Tantoco, chair and CEO of Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI), former ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., Bienvenido “Rico” Tantoco Jr., Maritess Tantoco-Enriquez, Marilou Tantoco-Pineda and Steven Sarmenta, executive vice president and general manager for Rustan’s Marketing Specialty Inc.
M&S is among the 781 specialty stores under the SSI Group’s retail network across the country. Gray said it has 20 stores all over the Philippines.
Most up-to-date
Gray described the M&S Food Hall at Power Plant as the “most up-to-date scheme” among three operating in Metro Manila.
The relaunched M&S boasts of 500 square meters of men’s and women’s quality clothing, accessories and lingerie. The food hall, located at the rightmost corner near the mall’s Amorsolo Drive entrance, features food products that the store said uses responsibly sourced ingredients.
“The new M&S Store will bring a range of delicious confectionery, groceries, savories and drinks, all-time favorites inspired by the finest global flavors and international award-winning wines,” Gray said.
He noted that the M&S Store at Power Plant “used to sell just clothes. We added this section and we believe it would do really well given the high density of expats in the area. Hopefully they would be drawn to the new food section.”
Visit www.marksandspencer.com.ph for more information.
