Kit PetersSWANSEA: M&S blacked out ‘like it was in mourning’ as Oxford Street store closes after 69 years
The flagship Marks & Spencer in Swansea city centre has closed its doors for the final time, ending almost seven decades on Oxford Street.
The store served its last customers on Saturday, 30 May, bringing to a close what shoppers marked as 69 years in the heart of the city.
Within a day, the M&S signage had been taken down and the windows and doors blacked out, the frontage carrying only a “We’re now closed” notice.
Among those marking the moment was the actress Caroline Berry, who documented the closure and its aftermath.
Berry is a familiar face from Welsh and British television, with a career stretching back more than three decades. Her recent credits include the BBC dramas The Way and Steeltown Murders, the acclaimed Channel 4 series It’s a Sin and The Pembrokeshire Murders, and she is due to appear in an episode of Silent Witness this year. Her earlier work includes long-running roles in Coronation Street and Mayday.
Swansea-based actress, Caroline Berry(Image: Caroline Berry)A “We’re closing on Saturday 30 May” banner inside the store in its final days. Image: Caroline Berry
Reflecting on the final day, she wrote that it was the end of an era, having shopped at the store through every decade of her life — “from my junior school dresses to flowers and food, bedding, homeware and clothing.”
Returning the next morning to find the branding already gone, she described the speed of it, saying the blacked-out store looked “like it was in mourning.”
She added that the sudden expanse of black drew attention to just how large the store was, and what a loss it represented for the city.
The closure was confirmed in February, when M&S said the decision followed prolonged underperformance. Around 92 people were employed at the store at that time.
On its final day, staff gathered for a farewell photograph, raising a toast to the store’s history.
Staff raise a toast on the final day of trading at M&S Swansea. Image: M&S Swansea / FacebookIn a message to customers, the M&S Swansea team thanked the city for its loyalty “over the years,” saying it had been “a privilege to serve you.”
The company pointed shoppers to its nearby stores that remain open — the Simply Food branches on Pontarddulais Road and in Mumbles, and the larger Parc Trostre store in Llanelli, which offers food, clothing and home collections.
For many in the city, the loss runs deeper than convenience. Former employees, some with decades of service behind them, shared memories of careers that began with Saturday jobs and stretched across 40 years or more.
Others spoke of the practical blow: shoppers who cannot drive and have no quick bus route to Trostre, and regulars who will miss the café as much as the shop floor.
The mood echoed a wider unease about the city centre, coming after the loss of other long-standing names and with the future of several large units still unresolved.
A spokesman for Swansea Council said it was disappointed by the decision but was continuing to work with M&S to find a new site in the city.
The former Debenhams unit had been suggested as a possible new home, but the council leader, Rob Stewart, has said M&S rejected the idea.
M&S has said it remains committed to serving Swansea customers through its nearby stores and online, and is working with the council and other partners to explore a future presence in the city.
For now, the blacked-out windows on Oxford Street stand as a stark marker of a name that had been part of Swansea life since the 1950s.
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