John Lewis opens second At Home store

The 40,000 sq ft store focusses exclusively on furniture, homewares, electronics and home technology. The full assortment is available via kiosks in the store, and there is also a cafe.

The store on Croydon’s Purley Way was completed in less than six months, and was conceived after John Lewis had failed to get a full line department store in the town centre after the development it wanted to open in failed to get off the ground.

The Croydon store follows the first which opened in Poole, and two more deals have been agreed for stores in Swindon and Tunbridge Wells. The retailer thinks at least 30 locations around the UK could support the format.

“Poole has proved that a smaller format works and has been very well received by customers for its convenient access and shopping ease,” said John Lewis head of format development Tim Harrison. “Our Croydon shop was completed in less than six months and to do this in such a short period of time demonstrates that John Lewis has the ability to move at pace with our ‘at home’ format.”