It is hard to believe it was only seven years ago that John Lewis was splashing hundreds of millions of pounds on 20 new department store openings.

The launch of flagship sites in Leeds, Westfield London and Birmingham were part of former boss Andy Street’s plans to establish genuinely nationwide, multichannel coverage for the high street stalwart.

At that point, John Lewis already operated around 40 stores. Street’s planned expansion would have increased its portfolio by almost 50% to a little more than 60 sites.

“We’re lucky that we only have 40 shops in great places,” Street said in an interview with the London Evening Standard back in December 2013. “We still have big catchments that we are not serving. As economic growth returns, we can spread our wings.”

Less than a decade on, those same wings are being clipped. John Lewis might be facing some of the strongest headwinds ever to batter the retail sector, but with the right model and proposition, physical retail – and indeed department stores – can ride those winds of change.

Instead, it is understood that new chair Dame Sharon White plans to shutter as many as eight more department stores, in addition to the eight she has already closed since taking the reins a year ago.

Such a move, expected to be confirmed as part of the partnership’s full-year results on March 11, would leave the business with 34 locations in the UK.

White has a bold vision for reinvention and the fact she is bringing some transformative ideas to the table shouldn’t be criticised – John Lewis certainly needs them.

“Even with those lofty ambitions in mind, cutting the store portfolio so deeply could amount to throwing the baby out with the bathwater”

The business slumped to a £55m loss in its first half and revealed it would not be paying its partners an annual bonus for the first time since 1953.

White eventually expects John Lewis to generate 60% of its sales online, compared with 40% prior to Covid. She also wants 40% of the partnership’s profits to come from new areas, such as housing, financial services and product rental, by 2030.

But even with those lofty ambitions in mind, cutting the store portfolio so deeply could amount to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The fact is that walking away from a tranche of stores won’t solve John Lewis’ fundamental problem.

Whether you operate three, 30 or 300 shops, they have to be relevant to customers – just ask Debenhams, John Lewis’ department store rival, which paid the ultimate price for failing to achieve that despite consistently trimming its store estate in the years before its demise.

John Lewis cannot allow itself to sleepwalk down the same road. 

Directing a portion of its investment away from physical to digital channels of course makes sense, particularly given the shift to online that the pandemic has spurred.

Yet John Lewis must be careful not to become over-reliant on online. Falling into such a trap would shift its primary competitor set away from the likes of Marks & Spencer and House of Fraser to Amazon and eBay – a potentially perilous place to be.

Rather than axing so many stores, John Lewis should be increasing its focus on making them work harder for the broader business. That is much easier said than done, but other retailers are achieving it.

Tesco wants to install at least 25 urban fulfilment centres within some of its largest supermarkets, for instance, dedicating previously under-utilised space to the packing of online grocery orders and driving a new form of value from its shops.

Fellow grocer Asda is bringing in new partners to provide greater authority in non-food categories. The Entertainer last week opened its first concession inside an Asda store, while B&Q is also launching shop-in-shops at some of the retailer’s biggest supermarkets.

Making changes won’t come cheap. Like its bricks-and-mortar neighbours, John Lewis has the burden of business rates to contend with – a tax that will increasingly fall under the spotlight if the department store chain vacates eight more shops.

And, of course, the capital expenditure needed to breathe fresh life into its properties will be at a premium.

But it is in a stronger position than most. Many of its stores paid reduced or even zero rent even before the pandemic, such is the clamour from landlords to secure John Lewis as an anchor tenant. 

“White has already brought outside-the-box thinking to JLP. Now is the time to apply some of that thinking to revamping its department stores before giving up on them”

That is an enviable position that, to its credit, John Lewis was only able to establish over the years as a direct result of its in-store prowess – and it is one it should be seeking to capitalise on, rather than walk away from, as we emerge from the pandemic.

Given that this is her first retail role, White has already brought outside-the-box thinking to the John Lewis Partnership. Now is the time to apply some of that thinking to revamping its department stores before giving up on them.

One need only look to the likes of Galeries Lafayette in France or FAO Schwarz in the US for examples of how that can be done. Such stores achieve what Amazon simply can’t, acting primarily as places for interaction and brand building, rather than simply selling, that shoppers enjoy returning to again and again.

It is not too late for department stores to become those hubs of experience, discovery and surprise.

It is not too late for department stores to properly do what online can’t and bring the brands they sell to life on the shopfloor through improved merchandising and staff interaction.

And it is not too late for department stores to drive loyalty – online and offline – by better curating the new up-and-coming brands that are most relevant to each store’s local catchment.

John Lewis’ shops won’t just survive the pandemic but can thrive in the years that follow if it gives them that opportunity to do so. The partnership will be knowingly underselling itself if it fails to give all of its department stores that chance.