John Lewis department store posted a lacklustre set of sales for the week ending November 3, in a further sign of a growing slowdown of consumer spending on the high street.

Department store John Lewis posted lacklustre sales in the week to November 3, in a further sign of a slowdown on the high street.

But John Lewis Partnership-owned stablemate supermarket chain Waitrose faired better, posting sales up 4.3 per cent over the week.

John Lewis registered a 0.5 per cent increase in sales for 7 days to November, excluding the Oxford Street store’s foodhall, compared with an 11.8 per cent increase for the same week last year.

For the 14 weeks to November 3, John Lewis’s sales rose by 2.1 per cent, compared with 15.6 per cent last year.

However, its internet operation registered booming sales. John Lewis head of internal communications Simon Fowler said: “John Lewis Direct produced its best sales week of the half so far. Online trade moved forward convincingly and, at over +50 per cent for the week, was comfortably ahead of our cumulative striking rate.”

Waitrose supply chain director Simon Williamson said that Halloween and Bonfire Night had helped it to hit budget.

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