Value seekers flock to John Lewis
SALES are continuing to surge at the John Lewis stores in the North West after a tough run-up to Christmas.
While there are no comparable figures for the new department store in Liverpool One shopping centre, weekly sales figures for the stores in Cheadle and the Trafford Centre continue to impress, with sales at the Trafford store up 25% in the week to January 3 and up 22% at Cheadle.
Nationally, John Lewis said sales were up 27.4% last week, but are now 3.2% down in the year to date.
Maggie Porteous, managing partner of the Cheadle and Trafford stores this week described the recent sales performance in the two stores as “phenomenal”.
“There is no doubt that some people left their Christmas shopping late this year, and also that some people were waiting for bargains, but the last few weeks have been really strong for us.”
Most encouragingly she said forward orders of home related “big ticket items” were beginning to improve, particularly at Cheadle.
“For the first time in six months we saw an increase in orders across furniture, fabrics, kitchens and floorcoverings. This is very pleasing and appears to be against the general market trend. I hope it is continued.”
She said the retail market was expected to remain challenging this year and John Lewis would focus on “great value, exceptional service and getting the basics right” to see it through.
