Sales slump at John Lewis

THE Edinburgh branch of department store chain John Lewis has suffered a decline in Easter sales.

New figures for the week to 10 April show that the St James Centre branch suffered a 2.4 per cent decline in sales compared with the previous year.

It came despite a strong start to the year for the store, with sales up 5.7 per cent in the first ten weeks of its financial year.

Across its UK branches, total sales increased by 0.6 per cent in the week to 10 April.

Among the most popular items were the new Reebok Easytone cross trainers.