Weather brings sales boost for John Lewis

A STRONG week of sales for the Edinburgh branch of John Lewis has helped its performance in the year to date improve.

The St James Centre store saw sales rise by 7.3 per cent in the seven days to February 26, having been boosted by the school half-term break. The strong performance means its sales in the first four weeks of its financial year are now only 0.5 per cent below the same period last year.

Across the UK, John Lewis saw sales increase by 7.2 per cent in the seven-day period, to 54 million. The biggest increases were recorded in fashion, with better weather said to have brought out the shoppers and contributed to a 10 per cent rise in sales.

Within fashion, childrenswear sales shot up by 35 per cent on last year, while womens- wear was up 25.5 per cent.