John Lewis has urged the government to provide clarity urgently about whether stores can reopen in December when the latest lockdown in England is scheduled to end.

John Lewis Partnership group operations director Andrew Murphy made the plea as retailers fear they will have insufficient time to prepare for seasonal demand, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Andrew Murphy

Andrew Murphy said lockdown has ‘put a boot through four of the seven most profitable weeks of the year’

If shops cannot reopen, some retailers fear online capacity will come under pressure and Christmas deliveries could be jeopardised.

Murphy said big stores would need time to “swing into gear”, though he was confident John Lewis would be able to handle all its deliveries and was “well-positioned going into this”. 

Following the start of the lockdown last week, thousands of John Lewis department store staff have been redeployed to the online business or to sister grocery business Waitrose.

However, Murphy said he needs to know whether to prepare to bring temporary staff into shops or to direct up to 400,000 product lines to online warehouses and delivery channels.

Another retailer told the newspaper it was essential to have clarity “within the next two weeks”. The chair of another said if stores have to remain shut until after Christmas there would be ”unthinkable” consequences for the industry.

Murphy emphasised that he was not pressuring the government to reopen stores but he hoped for a clear statement over strategy, perhaps within the next two weeks.

He said: “This [second lockdown] has put a boot through four of the seven most profitable weeks of the year. That’s everyone, not just John Lewis. 

“Obviously, we would like them to allow us to open shops but we are aware they can’t prioritise retail over everything else. The NHS needs to be able to cope. 

“The timing of us getting clarity is a very big issue. These are big operations to swing back into gear.”