Applegreen, one of Ireland’s leading roadside retailers, and M&S Food are to significantly expand their partnership following a successful first year of operations.
Applegreen and M&S have signed an exclusive 10-year agreement that will add up to 60 new M&S Food at Applegreen locations during that time. Applegreen intends to open 15 new M&S Food locations by the end of 2024, which will increase the overall number of outlets to 20.
Applegreen opened an initial five M&S Food “shop in shop” outlets over the past 12 months. These stores carry a range of up to 400 M&S products, complementing Applegreen’s existing range, and trading has exceeded expectations.
The first of the new stores will be in counties Louth, Meath, and Limerick, with other locations to be announced throughout the year. The M&S Food at Applegreen stores feature the best of M&S Food, including fresh fruit, salads, Irish sandwiches, lunch on the go, dinner options and a selection of other M&S favourites such as Percy Pig sweets, M&S cookies, and Colin the Caterpillar cakes.
All of the new M&S at Applegreen outlets will also feature Click & Collect for M&S Clothing and selected Home product ranges.
Applegreen Ireland Managing Director Fiona Matthews said:
“This is great news for Irish consumers, as Applegreen will now bring M&S Food products to a much wider market. M&S Food complements the existing Applegreen offer, as we are always evolving to meet our customers’ high expectations.
M&S is a great fit for Applegreen, as we share a focus on offering high quality products, with great customer service, provided by top class colleagues in store.
We have been delighted by the positive customer reaction to our partnership with M&S Food, which offers our customers greater choice and a wider product range. Based on the success of the partnership to date, and our ambition for further growth, we plan to roll out more than one M&S Food at Applegreen concept each month next year. We look forward to bringing this exciting concept to up to 60 new locations and communities over the next few years.”
M&S Country Director for Ireland and Northern Ireland Eddie Murphy said:
“One of the primary objectives of our partnership with Applegreen is to expand the footprint of M&S Food in Ireland. We’re excited to announce the rapid expansion of this partnership following a successful pilot. The addition of 15 new locations by the end of next year, and many more in the years to come, enables us to offer top quality, trusted value M&S products to a broader customer base in Ireland. The expansion reflects the successful partnership between M&S and Applegreen. We are delighted to incorporate the new locations into our wider network and to continue to work closely with Applegreen. Look out for M&S Food coming to your local Applegreen store.”
Applegreen’s addition of 15 new M&S Food outlets by the end of 2024 will involve significant store redevelopments at each location.
The first M&S Food shop in shop outlet opened last November at Mountgorry, in Swords, Co Dublin. Further outlets were added in Booterstown, Co Dublin Celbridge, Co Kildare, Kinsealy, Co Dublin and the M11 services area at Cullenmore, Co Wicklow.
The exclusive partnership with M&S Food complements Applegreen’s leading store proposition in the Irish market and brings the M&S Food range to a much wider Irish customer base. Market research shows that Irish customers view M&S Food products as being high quality, special, trusted, and tempting.
Applegreen’s partnership with M&S is part of Applegreen’s continuous development to bring the best customer experience on the road to Irish customers. Applegreen typically invests up to €20m every year on new store openings, upgrades, and improvements in the Irish market, and has also been rolling out the market leading Braeburn coffee, which is now available in more than 100 locations nationwide, including the first Braeburn Drive Thru Café in Ashbourne, Co. Meath.
Applegreen is one of Ireland’s leading retail brands. It opened its first service station in Ballyfermot in 1992, and now operates almost 200 locations in the Irish market. Applegreen also has a significant business overseas, with operations in Britain and the United States, and a total of 620 locations and more than 700 branded food offers across its global network.
The Applegreen business currently employs over 16,000 people and has further plans for growth in its major markets. Its expansion plans are focused on acquiring and developing new sites in the markets in which it already operates, as well as upgrading and rebranding its existing locations.
Marks & Spencer has been trading in the Republic of Ireland for 44 years, having opened its first store in Dublin’s Mary Street in November 1979. M&S Ireland has 18 stores in the Republic of Ireland, employing 1,800 colleagues.
M&S Food has a long track record of strong franchise partnerships in the UK, where its products are available in more than 300 roadside, rail, and airport locations.
