here . this article is about the department store . for other uses see m & s disambiguation . marks & spencer plc type public limited company traded as lse mks otcqx maksy industry retail founded 1884 ; 132 years ago 1884 leeds united kingdom founder sir michael marks thomas spencer headquarters london united kingdom area served worldwide key people robert swannell chairman steve rowe chief executive revenue 10.300 billion 2015 1 operating income 762.5 million 2015 1 profit 481.7 million 2015 1 number of employees 83 069 2015 2 website marksandspencer.com marks and spencer plc also known as m & s is a major british multinational retailer headquartered in the city of westminster london . it is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . it specialises in the selling of clothing home products and luxury food products . m & s was founded in 1884 by michael marks and thomas spencer in leeds . the company also began to sell branded goods like kellogg s corn flakes in november 2008 . 3 in 1998 the company became the first british retailer to make a pre tax profit of over 1 billion 4 although subsequently it went into a sudden slump which took the company its shareholders who included hundreds of thousands of small investors and nearly all retail analysts and business journalists by surprise . in november 2009 it was announced that marc bolland formerly of morrisons 5 would take over as chief executive from executive chairman stuart rose in early 2010 ; rose remained in the role of non executive chairman until he was replaced by robert swannell in january 2011 . 6 7 m & s have 852 stores throughout the uk as well as many international stores ; 52 stores in india 48 stores in turkey 37 in russia 27 in greece 17 in ireland 14 in france 11 in poland 6 in hungary and finland and 5 in spain . in recent years its clothing sales have fallen whilst food sales have increased after the axing of st. michael s naming for their own brand . contents 1 history 1.1 establishment 1.2 domestic growth 1.3 international expansion 1.4 financial decline 1.5 restructuring 1.6 recent developments 2 corporate affairs 2.1 head office locations 2.2 financial performance 2.3 social and environmental policy 2.3.1 look behind the label 2.3.2 plan a 2.3.3 charity work 2.4 senior management 3 stores 3.1 uk and ireland 3.2 international 4 store formats 4.1 core shops 4.1.1 new store format 4.2 m & s foodhall 4.3 hospitality 4.4 home stores 4.5 outlet stores 4.6 m & s simply food 4.7 online services 5 product line history 5.1 per una 5.2 old labels 6 marketing 6.1 new logo 6.2 your m & s 6.3 high profile media campaigns 7 controversies 7.1 israel 7.2 comprehensive spending review 7.3 contactless payment issues 7.4 muslim checkout staff policy 8 references 9 bibliography 10 external links history edit establishment edit marks and spencer on briggate not far from their original branch in leeds . the company was founded by a partnership between michael marks a polish jew 8 9 10 from s onim marks was born into a polish jewish family a polish refugee living in the russian empire now in belarus and thomas spencer a cashier from the english market town of skipton in north yorkshire . 11 on his arrival in england marks worked for a company in leeds called barran which employed refugees see sir john barran 1st baronet . in 1884 he met isaac jowitt dewhirst while looking for work . dewhirst lent marks 5 which he used to establish his penny bazaar on kirkgate market in leeds . 11 dewhirst also taught him a little english . dewhirst s cashier was tom spencer a bookkeeper whose second wife agnes helped improve marks english . in 1894 when marks acquired a permanent stall in leeds covered market he invited spencer to become his partner . in 1901 marks moved to the birkenhead open market where he amalgamated with spencer . the pair were allocated stall numbers 11 & 12 in the centre aisle in 1903 and there they opened the famous penny bazaar . the company left birkenhead market on 24 february 1923 . 12 the next few years saw michael marks and tom spencer open market stalls in many locations around the north west of england and move the original leeds penny bazaar to 20 cheetham hill road manchester . 11 13 domestic growth edit representation of historic store from the 1930s bekonscot model village uk marks and spencer known colloquially as marks and sparks 14 or m & s made its reputation in the early 20th century with a policy of only selling british made goods it started to back down from this policy in the 1990s . 15 it entered into long term relationships with british manufacturers and sold clothes and food under the st michael brand which was introduced in 1928 . the brand honours michael marks . it also accepted the return of unwanted items giving a full cash refund if the receipt was shown no matter how long ago the product was purchased which was unusual for the time . 10 m & s staff raised 5 000 to pay for a supermarine spitfire fighter aircraft called the marksman in 1941 . 10 by 1950 virtually all goods were sold under the st michael label . m & s lingerie women s clothes and girls school uniform were branded under the st margaret label until the whole range of general merchandise became st michael . simon marks son of michael marks died in 1964 after fifty six years service . israel sieff the son in law of michael marks took over as chairman and in 1968 john salisse became the company director . a cautious international expansion began with the introduction of asian food in 1974 . m & s opened stores in continental europe in 1975 and in ireland four years later . 10 the company put its main emphasis on quality including a 1957 stocking size measuring system . 10 for most of its history it also had a reputation for offering fair value for money . when this reputation began to waver it encountered serious difficulties . arguably m & s has historically been an iconic retailer of british quality goods . 10 the uncompromising attitude towards customer relations was summarised by the 1953 slogan the customer is always and completely right 10 energy efficiency was improved by the addition of thermostatically controlled refrigerators in 1963 . 10 m & s began selling christmas cakes and christmas puddings in 1958 . in an effort to improve the quality of their swiss rolls they hired the food expert nat goldberg who made a major improvement across their entire cake range which had lost the public s favour a few years earlier . as a later measure to improve food quality food labelling was improved and sell by dates were phased in between 1970 and 1972 . 10 smoking was banned from all m & s shops in 1959 because of the fire hazards it posed . 10 it later became a permanent rule after concerns were raised by asthmatics about their health . in 1972 marcus sieff became chairman remaining in place until 1984 and emphasising the importance of good staff relations to the tradition of the store while extending staff benefits to areas such as restaurants and chiropody . 16 international expansion edit a marks & spencer store in central hong kong . a marks & spencer store in times square causeway bay hong kong . m & s expanded into canada in 1973 and at one point had forty seven stores across canada . despite various efforts to improve its image the chain was never able to move beyond its reputation there as a stodgy retailer one that catered primarily to senior citizens and expatriate britons . the shops in canada were smaller than british outlets and did not carry the same selection . in the late 1990s further efforts were made to modernise them and also expand the customer base . unprofitable locations were closed . nonetheless the canadian operations continued to lose money and the last 38 shops in canada were closed in 1999 . 17 expansion into france began with shops opening in paris at boulevard haussmann and lyon in 1975 followed by a second paris shop at rosny 2 in 1977 . further expansion into other french and belgian cities followed into the 1980s . although the paris shops remained popular and profitable the western european operation as a whole did not fare as well and eighteen shops were sold in 2001 . 18 however in april 2011 m & s changed directions again with an announcement to reopen a store that will not only sell clothing but food as well . in addition the group will also open several food outlets throughout the french capital . the first branch opened on 24 november 2011 at the champs lys es in a ceremony attended by company ceo marc bolland model rosie huntington whiteley and british ambassador to france sir peter westmacott . 19 the daily mail reported that 1 000 customers queued outside for over 2 hours at the opening of the 1 400 m2 15 000 sq ft store . 19 in 1988 the company acquired brooks brothers an american clothing company 20 and kings super markets a us food chain . 21 in 2016 m & s expanded to sell through european marketplace zalando on their german french dutch belgian and austrian sites with a range of kidswear and lingerie . 22 financial decline edit m & s shop in inverness in 1998 m & s s profits peaked in the financial year 1997 1998 . 4 at the time it was seen as a continuing success story but with hindsight it is considered that during sir richard greenbury s tenure as head of the company profit margins were pushed to untenable levels and the loyalty of its customers was seriously eroded . the rising cost of using british suppliers was also a burden as rival retailers increasingly imported their goods from low cost countries but m & s s belated switch to overseas suppliers undermined a core part of its appeal to the public . another factor was the company s refusal until 2001 to accept any credit cards except its own chargecard . 23 these factors combined to plunge m & s into a sudden slump which took the company its shareholders who included hundreds of thousands of small investors and nearly all retail analysts and business journalists by surprise . the company s share price fell by more than two thirds and its profits fell from more than a billion pounds in 1997 and 1998 to 145 million in the year ended 31 march 2001 . 24 marks & spencer launched an online shopping service in 1999 . 25 in 2001 with changes in its business focus such as accepting credit cards the introduction of the per una clothing range designed by george davies and a redesign of its underlying business model profits recovered somewhat and m & s recovered some of its market share but it was soon evident that problems remained . in 2004 m & s was in the throes of an attempted takeover by arcadia group and bhs boss philip green . 26 on 12 july a recovery plan was announced which would involve selling off its financial services business m & s money to hsbc bank plc buying control of the per una range closing the gateshead lifestore and stopping the expansion of its simply food line of shops . philip green withdrew his takeover bid after failing to get sufficient backing from shareholders . 26 27 in february 2007 m