Marks and Spencer enters optical retail

Retail giant Marks and Spencer is to trial optician practices in five of its stores.

The in-store concessions will be run by Galaxy Optical and branded as M&S Opticians.

The five locations are: Bolton, York, Derby, Manchester and London’s Westfield White City.

A spokesperson for Marks and Spencer said: ‘As part of our transformation plan we’re adapting our UK store estate to better appeal to our existing customers and attract new ones.

‘One way we’re repositioning space is welcoming concessions into M&S stores. We’re already running a trial with Wasabi in our Foodhalls and now we’re extending this programme with M&S Opticians. Working with an expert partner, Galaxy Optician Services, we’ll be carefully monitoring the trial and we look forward to hearing our customers’ feedback.’