John Lewis to open new city stores

John Lewis is planning to open 10 smaller stores in city centre locations

over the next five years.

The staff-owned department store chain, beloved of better-off shoppers, plans to open stores of between 65,000 sq ft and 100,000 sq ft, creating 3,000 jobs.

Andrea O’Donnell, commercial director, said the move would help John Lewis double its turnover from £3bn ($4.89bn) to £6bn over the next 10 years.

She indicated that the wave of concern about the future of Britain’s town centres was supporting John Lewis’s expansion plans. “There are a lot of things coming together for us,” she said.

John Lewis’s announcement is a rare chink of light in the gloom over Britain’s town centres, in recent weeks, Jane Norman and the UK arm of Habitat have gone into administration, while other chains are closing stores.

Source: FT©