John Lewis sales hot up in cold blast

THE arrival of colder weather late last week gave department store chain John Lewis a sales boost.

Ted Baker: From John Lewis' Autumn-Winter collection. Picture: Contributed

The group’s weekly sales were 5 per cent higher than a year before at £71.4 million, but had initially been slow.

Managing director Andy Street said: “Last week was one of two halves. From Sunday to Thursday the country enjoyed the last flushes of our Indian summer, which saw our sales continue to flag.

“However, the change of weather on Friday to the start of autumn injected real pace into the business. As a result we finished with a respectable 5 per cent gain on last year.”

He said kitchen electricals were a strong seller, while in the “home” section strong early sales from John Lewis’ Christmas Shop was cause for optimism ahead of the crucial festive season.

Street said the school half-term holidays will likely “fire the starting gun” to the shopping frenzy.

Sales at the employee-owned firm’s Aberdeen shop were up 4.1 per cent, but Edinburgh was down 4 per cent and Glasgow dipped 0.9 per cent.