Glasgow leads the way for John Lewis

GLASGOW’S branch of John Lewis was the department store chain’s best-performing store last week as autumnal weather forced customers back indoors.

The Buchanan Galleries site grew its sales by 6.6 per cent year-on-year in the week to 8 October, helping the chain as a whole to post a 1.2 per cent rise.

Edinburgh’s branch reported a 2.5 per cent fall in sales, while the Aberdeen store was down 5.2 per cent.

A north-south divide opened up, with Leicester, Manchester and Sheffield the only other stores to post sales increases as the cold and wet weather encouraged customers to browse the aisles. In the south, the warmer weather persisted, denting the firm’s takings.

Maggie Porteous, head of selling operations at John Lewis, said: “The going was much tougher in the ‘big ticket’ items but beds and bedroom furniture bucked the trend with a great double-figure increase.”

John Lewis hailed the “super reaction” to the new Liz Earle skin tint in its beauty department and the JL womenswear collection. Sales of tablet computers continued to surge, with Apple’s iPad 2 “still out in front”. Dyson’s new “Hot” fan heater was also popular.

Meanwhile, up-market grocery chain Waitrose – which is owned by the John Lewis Partnership – unveiled a 10.4 per cent year-on-year rise in sales on the back of the launch of its “1000s of ways to great value” advertising campaign”.

PETER RANSCOMBE