After years of selling you its food to take away, Marks & Spencer hopes to entice you to sample some of it in-store at its soon-to-be-opened "Cafe Revive".
It will be located on the first floor of its Mary Street branch, beside the Homeware department, and will seat up to 80 customers. A non-smoking area, Cafe Revive will extend to 1,829 sq ft and will have large windows overlooking Liffey Street.
Cold snacks, wrapped sandwiches and a variety of coffees and drinks will be served but there are no plans to provide hot meals.
Ian Hunter, commercial manager, says that one of the most common requests they get from customers is for a cafe where they can take time out from shopping to relax and have a brew without leaving the store. He says that as part of the ongoing development of the business, the company hopes the new cafe will be part and parcel of the M&S shopping experience. "We currently have 42 in-store coffee shops in the UK and they take in more money than the US coffee bar chain, Starbucks, does in Britain.
"We are now planning to provide a total of 72 coffee shops in the UK by March 2001. In addition to these, two more are to open in Ireland - one in the Liffey Valley store and the other in our Cork branch."
And after treating yourself to your favourite pastry and cappuccino, you will be able to sample some new cosmetic lines at a glossy new Beauty Shop also planned for the Mary Street store.
