M&S’s recent focus has been on closing full-range clothing stores and concentrating on food-only stores. But now there are signs of a possible change in strategy: the company wants to test a store that only sells fashion and cosmetics, not food.

The standalone store will open under the Marks & Spencer name in Battersea Power Station shopping centre. It’s an interesting choice of location considering health and beauty retailer Boots also chose this site to open a beauty-only store that doesn’t stock its wider range of health and beauty products.

M&S’s offering will include a reduced women’s and men’s clothing range with a stronger premium element and, although mainly clothing, will also include beauty products as the company has expanded its offering in this area of ​​the business in recent years.

CEO Stuart Machin said the trial store will “showcase the best of M&S clothing and beauty at great value for money”. And if the trial is successful, we can expect to see more stores like this across the UK.

The new strategy underlines the upturn in the company’s fashion business, with newer collections now appealing to a broad range of British consumers following years of restructuring.

M&S’s two main divisions are food and clothing & home, and they reflect the sometimes contradictory nature of the products on offer. For decades, the company made a fortune selling items such as underwear and knitwear alongside cakes, meat and fresh fruit. The supermarket sector eventually saw the potential in this, but M&S ​​itself has struggled with this non-complementary mix since the turn of the millennium.

Then a new strategy under CEO Steve Rowe and his successor Stuart Machin gave food a greater priority.

But despite closing some stores that sold clothes, the company has also been working to improve its fashion offering, led by former Tesco clothing boss Richard Price at the helm of Clothing & Home, and former Topshop employee Maddy Evans, who was specifically responsible for womenswear. This has paid off recently, contributing to increased sales. Its recent collaboration with Sienna Miller is a good example of the company’s renewed confidence and influence in the fashion industry.