M&s Store Closing Swansea: Oxford Street Flagship to Shut Later in 2026 with 92 Jobs at Risk
M&s Store Closing Swansea has been confirmed as the retailer says it will shut its Oxford Street city centre branch later this year, a move that affects around 92 staff and deepens concerns about the city centre high street. The announcement notes long-term underperformance and practical and operational issues with the building; staff were told on Tuesday morning, February 24, and a consultation on future roles will now take place.
M&s Store Closing Swansea: what the company says and its position in the city
The Oxford Street store sits in the heart of Swansea city centre and has been a draw for shoppers for decades. Company leadership says customer shopping habits are changing and that this closure forms part of a UK-wide store rotation programme intended to adapt the store estate so it has the right space to deliver a strong shopping experience. The company describes the Swansea building as facing practical and operational issues that would require significant investment and says the site has underperformed over a long period, making it unviable to keep open in its current form.
The retailer notes it has had a presence in the heart of Swansea for more than 100 years and has not ruled out opening at a different premises in future. It says it will continue to serve Swansea customers through nearby stores and online while actively looking for a suitable location for a future full-line store in the city.
Jobs, timing and the staff consultation
About 92 staff at the Oxford Street branch were informed of the closure on Tuesday morning, February 24. A consultation process will now take place with colleagues to explore potential redeployment and alternative roles at other stores. At this stage, the company has not confirmed any redundancies. An exact closing date for the Oxford Street store has not been finalised; the announcement says the closure is expected to be later in 2026, while earlier wording in the initial notice referenced it closing later this year.
Local reaction and high street concerns
Swansea Council expressed disappointment at the decision and described the news as extremely disappointing for staff and shoppers. Council spokespeople said the company had confirmed the current building and location are no longer suitable for its business model, noting the wider programme has already seen 90 historic locations close as investment has shifted to new store locations. The council said it has spent several years trying to prevent the closure and will continue working to find a site that meets the retailer's needs so M&S can remain in the city. The council also said that the decision was not a reflection on Swansea as a retail destination but forms part of a wider national strategy. The council statement in the original coverage ended mid-sentence and is unclear in the provided context.
The announcement is expected to raise fresh doubts about high street trade in Swansea city centre, given the large retail footprint the Oxford Street store occupies in the main shopping thoroughfare.
Wider Wales picture and the store rotation strategy
Beyond Swansea, stores in Gwent and west Wales are not affected by this latest closure plan. In west Wales, the Haverfordwest branch at Withybush Retail Park and the Carmarthen town centre branch remain fully operational with no planned changes. The reassurance to those areas followed the Swansea announcement and reflects a targeted decision at the Oxford Street site.
The retailer has pointed to previous restructuring in the region: a full-line store and food hall in Cwmbran closed in May 2019, and a smaller food unit inside a town-centre shop in Cwmbran closed in September 2025. Despite those changes, the company has identified a long-term expansion and investment programme for food stores nationwide.
Expansion plans, target locations and the scale of change
The retailer has identified 500 target locations nationwide for new food stores, with 20 of those sites earmarked in Wales. Locations named as potential targets include Abergavenny, Caerphilly, Chepstow, Cwmbran, Monmouth and Penarth. The company emphasises that the list is a long-term target for possible new large-format food stores and that inclusion on the list does not mean there will be changes to existing stores in those locations.
These moves form part of a wider store rotation programme that aims to reduce the number of full-line stores from 247 to 180 by 2028 while increasing the food-only estate from around 330 to 420.
What happens next
The immediate next steps are a formal staff consultation and continued discussions between the council and the retailer as they explore alternative sites and support for affected colleagues. The company says it will prioritise supporting colleagues through consultation, including finding alternative roles at nearby stores where possible. The original coverage also invited readers to sign up for a newsletter and promoted a discounted introductory premium subscription and a prompt to mark the publisher as a preferred source in search settings.
Details may evolve as the consultation proceeds and as council–retailer talks continue; those developments will determine final timings and any redeployment outcomes.
