Shortage of gift vouchers affects John Lewis stores

High street bellwether John Lewis has been hit by a shortage of gift vouchers after the printing firm it used went into administration, the employee-owned group said yesterday.

The blow came during the summer wedding gift season, a key time for voucher sales.

John Lewis said it had experienced "difficulties" with its supply of gift vouchers. But it added the situation had been mitigated in its department stores by using vouchers held in stock.

A spokeswoman confirmed that none of the John Lewis department stores had completely run out of vouchers, but Waitrose - the group's up-market grocery chain - has had to switch stock of vouchers between stores due to the supply crisis.

News of the printing problems came as the department store chain posted a 12.2 per cent rise in sales to 57.8 million in the week to 28 August.

The Glasgow branch was up 4.3 per cent but Aberdeen down 3.8 per cent and Edinburgh 1.5 per cent lower.

The pace of growth at Waitrose has slowed in recent weeks - slipping to 6.8 per cent according to yesterday's figures, compared with 7.8 per cent during the previous week and 11.1 per cent in July - although supermarkets across the sector have been hit by falling food price inflation in recent months.

Waitrose has three outlets in Scotland.