John Lewis considers permanently closing some stores after lockdown

Dame Sharon White warned of potential store closures and job losses when she took over from Sir Charlie Mayfield in February at the group, which also owns the grocer Waitrose, as the department store chain was struggling to return to profitability even prior to the coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking to City analysts yesterday, White said “no decisions had been taken” on specific store closures but she did not rule out some of the 50 department stores across the UK not reopening once the lockdown is over.

“It is not clear enough at the moment,” White said. “We are doing financial modelling looking at when the lockdown is going to end and looking at what life outside lockdown will be like. We will have to look at the financial position for us when we get more certainty over the second half [of the financial year to the end of January] before taking those decisions [on jobs and stores].”

White said it could take up to six weeks for lockdown measures to be lifted and the delay could give time for John Lewis’ senior team to complete the strategic review she outlined when she took up her role.

The retailer’s financial position has not fundamentally changed since it updated the market last week, where it outlined a “worst-case scenario” of full-year sales falling 35% at John Lewis and a “more modest decline” of less than 5% at Waitrose.

It flagged that while online sales had spiked up 84% year on year since the virus struck, this increase was insufficient to offset lost sales from closed stores. John Lewis furloughed 14,000 staff at the beginning of April and sales were down 17% overall from mid-March.