Dubai, UAE - Marks & Spencer (M&S) will open five large format M&S Foodhalls in the UAE within the next 12 months with its franchise partner Al-Futtaim, beginning in December with a 15,327 sq ft store at Dubai Festival City.
The British retailer said the new stores will carry its full food range outside the UK for the first time. Alcohol and pork products, which M&S considers unsuitable for customers in the UAE, are left out.
M&S described the format as scalable, with room for further stores over time as it grows internationally. After Dubai Festival City, four more Foodhalls are planned within the 12-month period.
Al-Futtaim has run an M&S Fashion store at Dubai Festival City since 2018, and M&S said it now draws more than 420,000 customers a year. The community is also where Al-Futtaim launched its Al Badia Villas in January.
No other M&S Foodhall outside the UK will be as big as the 15,327 sq ft Dubai store. Its shelves will hold more than 3,500 M&S Food products plus 500 new lines sourced locally and chosen with UAE shoppers in mind.
Upwards of 200 of the retailer’s trusted UK suppliers will be represented alongside local names such as Let’s Eat and Domus. M&S said customers will be able to complete a full weekly shop there.
The store will also be the first place outside the UK to sell M&S Flowers. It brings in hospitality ideas M&S has never used before, among them a Fruit Butcher, and familiar concepts that will be new to the Middle East, including a Sushi Counter.
Al-Futtaim has operated M&S stores across the Middle East for close to 30 years and has built a successful fashion business there. M&S now wants to grow its food arm, which it says is already known to 55% of shoppers in the UAE, citing its 2026 customer research.
The retailer pointed to Deep Market Insights figures that put annual compound growth in the UAE food and grocery market at 3.24%, and said it sees room to grow as it expands globally.
Prices are also coming down on more than half of the Foodhall range in the UAE, with the products and quality unchanged. M&S said the investment makes its food more competitively priced than ever and will help UAE families shop more confidently, regularly and affordably.
Mark Lemming, Managing Director of International at M&S, said: “Our purpose is to bring the best of M&S to more customers around the world. Building on the strength of our Fashion business in the Middle East, these new large format Foodhalls are an exciting opportunity to introduce more customers in the UAE to the quality, innovation and trusted value M&S Food is known for.
“By bringing a broader range of M&S Food together under one roof, we can become a bigger part of our customers’ everyday lives, giving them more choice and more reasons to shop with us more often as we continue to grow our presence in the region.”
Wassim Arabi, President, Retail of Al-Futtaim, said: “Our partnership with M&S spans nearly three decades, built on a shared commitment to quality, customer trust and a deep understanding of consumers’ evolving needs. The launch of this new Foodhall is an important milestone in that journey, bringing an exciting, elevated food shopping experience to our customers.
“By combining M&S’s exceptional food and trusted quality with Al-Futtaim’s local market expertise and operational capabilities, we are setting a new benchmark for food retail in the UAE. We are proud to keep strengthening this longstanding partnership and look forward to what comes next.”
