Marks and Spencers to close in Taiwan

It’s a shame really, Marks and Spencer’s, a UK clothes and food retailer opened up three new shops in Taiwan last year, but they’re already about to close them due to poor sales. It looks like they picked the wrong partner, as they went with President Chain Store Corp, the same company runs 7-11 and some other outlets like Starbucks and Cold Stone in Taiwan. Although I can’t say I did a lot of shopping there, it was a good source for decent underwear and the occasional packet of custard creams.

It seems like the products sold weren’t popular enough with the local population and considering some of the pricing as well as the “British style” on a lot of the clothing, it’s not hard to see why M&S didn’t do too well here. Their selection of food was also very limited and again quite expensive and didn’t include anything that didn’t come out of a jar, bottle or a packet. Still, with the poor selection of “Western” shops in Taiwan, M&S will be sorely missed by some of us. It’s a pain to have to go abroad just to get a decent pair of underwear…

The shops will be closed by the end of August, but no specific final opening day has been given. Everything will be sold out at a discount, which is always something, although so far, not everything is on sale.