CITY VIEWS: HAS MARKS & SPENCER LOST ITS SPARK UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP OF SIR STUART ROSE?
STEPHEN FOSTER CHAPMAN BATES
“It’s a bit dated, the sort of place I’d expect my Mum to go. There are so many brands around that it’s hard for them to compete. I would only go there for a suit, not casual clothes. I still think of it as being good quality, but they seem scared of rebranding.”
RICHARD TURNER BCD TRAVEL
“It’s still pretty good on foodstuff and they’ll do OK in clothing because people don’t want to spend a fortune on suits and so on. Sir Stuart Rose has brought them back from the doldrums before so the problems are with the economy.”
EDWARD RUSHMER CTC AXIOM
“They seem to have lost their touch and it looks like Oxfam when you go in there now. The poor performance is probably 60 per cent down to the recession and 40 per cent down to Sir Stuart Rose. They need to return to quality again.”