Residents have complained that there will be "no shops left" in their city centre after a retailer announced a proposal to close its High Street branch. Marks and Spencer (M&S) said it was proposing shutting its Sunderland shop in response to changing shopping habits. M&S said the Sunderland store would not close until its new branch in nearby Washington opened. M&S has been pulling out of city centre locations as it reviews its retail offering. The company is set to open a 47,000 sq ft store at the Galleries Retail Park in Washington in spring 2024, and said the Sunderland city centre branch would remain open until then. Peter McIntyre, from Sunderland City Council, said the council had been in talks with M&S about the branch for five years. Shopper Robert Ing said: "There are a lot of elderly people who come out and they go over there [to M&S] because it is so convenient for them. "It's really upsetting that they are taking this business away from the town centre."
