John Lewis to open at home in Chester

RETAILER John Lewis has announced that it is to open a John Lewis at home shop in Chester next year – its first in the North of England.

The firm will create around 200 new jobs and invest £7 million in the John Lewis at homestore, which will be located on Land Securities’ Greyhound Retail Park site.

The new ‘at home’ shop will feature 38,000 sq ft of selling space and focus exclusively on furniture, furnishing accessories, electricals and home technology.

John Lewis Partnership launched its at home concept in Poole last October and will open an additional three shops will by the end of 2010 including Croydon, Swindon and Tunbridge Wells. Chester, along with a new site in Exeter, will take the total ‘at home’ shops to six.

Andy Street, managing director, John Lewis, said: “We’re thrilled to be bringing a John Lewis at home shop to Chester which is a great fit for us in terms of location and catchment, and gives shoppers in Cheshire more convenient access to a John Lewis. We’ve been keen on opening in Chester for some time and we look forward to giving local people a broader shopping offer.”

Land Securities managing director for Retail, Richard Akers, said: “We are really pleased to help bring John Lewis to Chester with its ‘at home’ shop. 

It has been a real team effort with John Lewis to make this announcement today and our experience of the impact John Lewis at home will have is that it will create jobs, attract more customers and boost overall trade at the Greyhound Retail Park.”

John Lewis was represented by Cushman & Wakefield and Ashworths Chartered Surveyors.