John Lewis will invest over £20 million refurbishing its Bluewater department store, ten years after it opened.

As part of the strategy, the retailer will add a John Lewis Foodhall from Waitrose, due to open in summer 2009, to the store’s basement.

It will be the second foodhall for John Lewis and Waitrose parent company the John Lewis Partnership, after the launch of the concept at its flagship John Lewis store in London’s Oxford Street in October 2007.

John Lewis managing director Andy Street said: “Following the success of our Oxford Street Foodhall since its opening in October 2007, we have been eager to open another Foodhall at a branch outside London.”

The news comes as Experian’s Retail Ranking 2008 placed Bluewater at number nine in the top ten of the UK’s leading retail destinations.

Westfield London, which opened last Thursday, also knocked Bluewater in to ninth place in the CACI’s annual Centre Futures league tables.

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