Department store John Lewis suffered awful sales for the week ending February 16, as the retail slowdown finally caught up with one of the sector's best-performing chains.

John Lewis director of selling operations for region B Dan Knowles pulled no punches in his assessment of the poor sales, which were down 3.4 per cent on the week. “Trade last week was one of the toughest in recent memory and we will be disappointed to finish the week down on last year," he said.

The news will send shockwaves through the retail sector because until now John Lewis has been one of the few shining beacons of continued growth.

Knowles partly blamed the good February weather for persuading parents to take advantage of the sunshine instead of going shopping. Only three of John Lewis’s 26 stores delivered positive like-for-like figures. Its new Cambridge store’s comparable sales figures are not yet available. Of the retailer’s worst-performing stores, High Wycombe’s sales fell a whopping 19.6 per cent in the week, Welwyn tumbled 17.9 per cent and Bluewater dropped 17.2 per cent.

However, London Oxford Street continued to power ahead, with sales up 10.8 per cent for the week.

Trade was much stronger at John Lewis Partnership stablemate Waitrose. The grocer’s sales jumped 7.5 per cent.

Waitrose commercial director Richard Hodgson said: “The weather was cold, but there were lots of warm hearts judging by the buoyant trade around Valentine’s Day.”

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