John Lewis to open smaller shops to hit growth targets

Director of retail design and development Gareth Thomas said it was “absolutely right” for John Lewis to adapt the shape and size of future stores to enable it to open in towns with small catchment areas.

John Lewis is following in the footsteps of department store rivals Debenhams and House of Fraser, which have already decided to open smaller stores.

A typical John Lewis store has an average selling space of between 140,000 sq ft and 150,000 sq ft, located over three and a half floors. Under Thomas’s strategy, it will open edited full-line stores as small as 100,000 sq ft.

He said: “Most of the new shops we have planned are in city centres and the sites will be different every time. It won’t be the same as building at Bluewater or Cribbs Causeway, which were effectively greenfield sites. We make it clear to developers that we would prefer our regular size and shape, but we have to accept that it won’t always be possible.”

Thomas is examining how the retailer should evolve its trading strategy to suit a smaller store environment. Of its 26-strong portfolio, two stores – Aberdeen and Watford – operate from 100,000 sq ft of selling space at present. This month, it opened a 145,000 sq ft store at the Grand Arcade shopping centre in Cambridge.

Separately, John Lewis has upped its fashion stakes with the introduction of its highest price-point clothing range. A collection from designer brand Nicole Farhi will launch in the retailer’s Oxford Street store and Peter Jones branch in February, with items priced between£49 and£1,500.

Director of buying for fashion Peter Ruis said: “We are moving more towards premium and designer ranges. We have big ambitions around fashion and womenswear in particular.” Ruis aims to double John Lewis’s womenswear market share to 2 per cent.

*Debenhams will roll out a Special Edition occasionwear range in March for its own-label Red Herring brand.