Back in 1993 this magazine welcomed Marks and Spencer to Nice (it was our cover story, Reporter n° 39) and this very British retail presence was welcomed with enthusiasm by many readers, including some French women who had frequented the Marble Arch store and others (they were known as the most persistent shoplifters after the Iranians). People often told us how they appreciated the availability of St Michael’s shirts and other items of clothing (I recall, though, that in earlier and less enlightened times Simon Marks had commanded that no male job applicant wearing a pink shirt should be hired) and those wonderful sandwiches. The company’s deputy chairman (then a Monaco resident) declared that “we are pioneers in this kind of global retailing”.

Alas, that pioneer trail came to an abrupt halt when group profits plummeted and soon overseas stores were being closed (those that remain – as in Gibraltar and Bermuda – are franchises). The Nice branch put up the shutters in 2001. It had performed rather badly – much of the clothing and food products it offered had little appeal for the French and at some periods local management was poor (one hapless character admitted that he had accepted to come to Nice, without a word of French, to avoid being sent to Belfast!). But now there’s a hope that Brit-style shirts and sarnies might be on the way back. Stuart Rose, M&S boss and newly-minted knight, has confirmed, despite poor last quarter results in 2007, that the retailer may return to Europe. “That’s where opportunities lie for expansion,” he says. And he’s got nothing against pink shirts. With a name like that, how could he?

From Riviera Reporter Issue 126: April/May 2008

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