He might have been one of the highest profile retailers of his generation, but Sir Stuart Rose’s departure from M&S is going to be low key

After all the fuss for what seemed like an age about when he was going to step down, the fact the Stuart Rose is actually leaving M&S imminently has gone largely unnoticed. Officially he goes on the 4th January, marking the end to a career in retail which has never been dull, and it’s likely to be without any real fanfare.

The Rose era will be judged by many on the defeat of Philip Green’s attempt to buy the business in 2004, and whether he has delivered value for shareholders since. On the basis that Green’s indicative offer was 400p a share, and today they’re trading at 374p, that’s not a brilliant return for investors. Rose’s reign has been characterised by rows with major shareholders over corporate governance, and his not entirely successful promotion to executive chairman at the same time as remaining chief executive tarnished his image within the square mile.

What he should be remembered as though is as a retailer, and one who has brought a business which was going nowhere back to life. It’s a long time ago now so it’s easy to forget how shoppers had fallen out of love with the brand, how tired the stores had become, and how what made M&S unique had been forgotten.

Working with Steve Sharp, the inspired Your M&S campaign transformed perceptions of the business, and along with the development of brands like Per Una and the store refurbishment programme, the Rose era reminded everyone what M&S was about. It’s been turbulent, with a rapid turnover of senior management if you compare it to any of its peers, but Rose’s energy and total commitment gave M&S its reason for being back.

He’s created a great platform for Marc Bolland, an able and talented retailer who showed at Morrisons how adept he is at building on a legacy. But he’s no Rose, and that’s because along with Green, Rose is one of the last of a dying breed of retail chief executives - traders, obsessed with product, honest and direct. He is by all accounts demanding to work for and not everything he’s done has been a success, but everything he’s done has been about making M&S great again. From a personal point of view he’s one of the people who has made covering retail a pleasure over the past few years, and I know many people, both inside and outside M&S, will miss his presence.