AN EMPTY town centre retail unit is to be transformed with two major retailers set to move in.

A new M&S Food store and a Specsavers will share the unit formerly occupied by M&Co at the Crown Mead Shopping Centre in Wimborne.

The M&S Food will become the first standalone store of its kind in Wimborne, as will the Specsavers which is already looking for staff.

Shoppers say they “cannot wait” to see the new retailers take occupancy at the unit which has been empty since November last year.

Sandpiper Stores, part of the SandpiperCI Group, reached an agreement with the Marks and Spencer Group to open the franchise M&S Food store.

Bournemouth Echo: An M&S Food store in HamiltonAn M&S Food store in Hamilton (Image: Marks and Spencer)

Subject to planning and licensing consents, the M&S Food store is proposed to be sited in units three and four of the Crown Mead centre, while Specsavers is understood to take five and six.

The food store will also offer a bakery, M&S Coffee machines and a Click & Collect service for clothing and home products from M&S.com.

SandpiperCI’s executive chair, Tony O’Neill said: “We’re very excited that our long relationship with M&S is about to enter a new territory.

“Our Jersey-based M&S store teams consistently deliver service and standards of the highest order, and we are naturally delighted to have the opportunity to widen our partnership with Marks and Spencer by using our decades of experience to develop our first M&S store in the UK.”

Bournemouth Echo: Empty M&Co store in Wimborne, set to house a M&S Food store and SpecsaversEmpty M&Co store in Wimborne, set to house a M&S Food store and Specsavers (Image: Newsquest)

Wimborne shopper Louise Barnes told the Echo she was “thrilled” to hear the national retailers were coming to the town.

She said: “I personally cannot wait, I think it will give the area a lift. I imagine it will give some competition to the Co-op which is just around the corner, but more footfall is a good thing for everyone I think.”

Recruitment for more than 20 new full and part-time job roles at the M&S has started and the store is planned to open in autumn this year, subject to approval.

Specsavers, meanwhile, is predicted to open in September.