A NEW Marks & Spencer food store is to open on the outskirts of York.

The Simply Food outlet will open at Monks Cross shopping Park, Huntington, in September, when it is predicted that it will create dozens of new jobs.

The venture will be in addition to, rather than replacing the ground-floor food outlet in York's Parliament Street store, which already employs 400 people.

It will mean shoppers will have a choice between three major "park and shop" food outlets in and around the shopping park, with Asda and Sainsbury's already in the vicinity.

Its arrival has been welcomed by one of the region's top business leaders.

Mark Vines, president of the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, representing nearly 600 businesses, said: "Marks & Spencer's commitment to further investment in York is a significant boost for the city and there is no reason why it would detract from business in the city centre.

"It will give people working in the new wave of office development expected at Monks Cross a huge choice of drive-in food shopping."

A ten-week fit-out starts on July 7, in a 5,000 sq ft area of what was Textile World.

Scotland-based Textile World left the shopping park last Christmas after closing all its branches in England. Part of the vacant store has been taken over by Clinton Cards, and negotiations took place between the Monks Cross Shopping Park management and Marks & Spencer for the remainder.

Katherine Hague, manager of the shopping park, said: "The prospect of The Simply Food store is extremely exciting. We are really pleased about it.

"Marks & Spencer has for three years had its eye on the shopping park, and the fact that until now we have not had a vacant unit of the size they needed speaks for our success since we opened five years ago."

A spokesperson for Marks & Spencer said that the Monks Cross project was part of a plan to open 150 stores, including 140 franchise outlets in railway station locations, by the year 2005.

Exact details of the store, and how many people it will employ, have not yet been disclosed, but other Simply Food branches have stocked an average 1,300 product lines and the recent opening of a Birmingham Simply Food outlet, roughly half the size of the Monks Cross space, created 36 jobs.

The spokesperson said: "I'm not saying there is likely to be in the region of 72 jobs at Monks Cross, but it is likely to be dozens."

Updated: 09:31 Saturday, June 21, 2003