John Lewis opens first store in Essex

John Lewis opened its debut store in Chelmsford, Essex on Thursday. The new store is part of Chelmsford's new 150 million pounds Bond Street development.

The new store features over 90,000 square feet of selling space across three floors, offering over 65,000 products. John Lewis Chelmsford also includes the largest beauty hall out of all of the department store's smaller, full-line stores which includes 14 premium beauty counters. The department store also includes fashion brands Ralph Lauren, Whistles, Finery and John Lewis new in-house luxury womenswear brand.

"Today marks a very exciting time for John Lewis and we're delighted to open the doors to our first shop in Essex," commented Laura Rawstron, Branch Manager at John Lewis Chelmsford. "It's one of our most modern shops to date and brings together the very best of John Lewis' products and services. Our new team of Partners have worked incredibly hard to get us to this stage and I'm very proud of everyone involved. Together with the Bond Street development, this John Lewis shop will create a new retail and leisure offer that ensures Chelmsford has something for everyone."

The store was officially opened during a ceremony held in morning, which saw brand manager Laura Rawstron cut the opening ribbon with Stephanie Shields, from the John Lewis Partnership. The debut store is said to represent an investment of 18 million pounds by John Lewis.