The recent spike in online shopping could be the driving force behind the planned closures of Marks and Spencer stores in Kent.

The worrying decline in sales over the Christmas period saw Marks and Spencer announce 17 UK stores would be closed as part of the store’s estate programme, including stores in Deal and Ashford.

The announcement that the stores would be closed was initially attributed to the decreasing number of visitors in the town centre, coupled with rising business costs. However, Jo James the CEO of the Kent Invicta Chamber Commerce, believes the increase in online grocery shopping has meant consumers no longer shop on the high street.

“The footfall at these stores have fallen dramatically in the last few years. This has been due to the rise in online consumers who prefer to have their goods delivered to their door. Saves them having to get in the car.”

Miss James also cited her concern over how the rest of the high street could cope without the presence of a supermarket giant like M&S.

“Without a big store like Marks and Spencer there is now even less reason to visit the high street. Lots of people visited the town for the M&S store and without it many other businesses will be affected.”

“It’s a shame, as not everyone shops online.” James concluded.

The announcement that the Deal store would be closing came as a surprise seeing as that particular store had been performing better than projected.

Councillor Keith Morris described the decision to close the store in spite of its recent success as ‘strange’ calling for a meeting with the company over fears on how the staff and the local community could be impacted.

It is not known how many employees from the Ashford and Deal stores will be retained out the 1,045 workers across the 17 stores.

Sacha Berendiji, the retail, operations and property director at Marks & Spencer said: “Proposing to close stores is never easy, for our colleagues, customers or the local community, but it is vital for the future of M&S.”

This is not the first time M&S have taken the option to close one of their main stores. In 2014 the supermarket chain closed their flagship Gravesend store which had stood for almost 100 years.

If the proposed closure of the Deal and Ashford stores are to go ahead the focus of the local communities is said to be ensuring that the premises do not stay closed for long which could affect the capacity of the town centre to thrive economically.