John Lewis department stores achieved bumper sales lifts this Easter compared with last year.

But sales at supermarket division Waitrose tumbled almost 5 per cent.

Like-for-like sales were up 1.3 per cent for the week to March 29. But the group said that the results were in fact up 15 per cent against Easter week last year. At the department stores, total like-for-likes were up 1.7 per cent for the nine weeks to March 29.

The department store chain said the cold, wet weather on Easter Monday “undoubtedly” helped get trading off to a flying start.

Almost every store in the portfolio beat Easter figures for last year, with stores in areas where the Easter holidays had already started performing particularly well.

The vision and small electricals categories did well, and both fashion and home comfortably exceeded last year. Outdoor assortments did badly as a result of the weather.

Like-for-likes at Waitrose fell 4.6 per cent for the week to March 29. Total like-for-likes for the nine weeks to March 29 were up 8.3 per cent.

The grocery chain said: “Annual comparatives were skewed by cold, wet weather and unusual trading patterns around variable school holidays, but the week ended with a top trading day on Saturday.”

Topics