Scottish stores return to growth as John Lewis sales jump 15%

Department store group John Lewis today said all three of its Scottish branches enjoyed rising sales last week, as Glasgow led the way with a 13.1 per cent increase.

The employee-owned retailer said sales for the week to 8 December totalled a record £142 million, driven by a 46 per cent jump in online sales.

Its Scottish stores, which all suffered a decline in sales for the previous week, all returned to growth with Glasgow showing the largest increase of 13.1 per cent. Sales at Edinburgh were 7.8 per cent higher than a year ago, while Aberdeen was up 1.7 per cent.

Retail services director Barry Matheson said: “There was a slight heart flutter early in the week when snow fell across parts of Scotland and north-east England but as the snow thawed customers returned to shopping with a vengeance, culminating in an extremely successful weekend.

“All credit to Swindon for topping the table with the best score but from both a one-and two-year perspective the stand-out performance came from Glasgow. There was definitely a northern theme to the results with Liverpool, Edinburgh and Trafford all in the top six.”