“An excellent fashion performance” and “resurgent” electricals and technology sales helped the eponymous department stores generate a sales rise of 2.1 per cent.
Grocery chain Waitrose recorded a 5 per cent rise as better weather lifted sales of outdoor food.
John Lewis head of supply chain and administration Andy Banks said that sales at the new Liverpool department store were “well ahead of expectations” in its first full week of trading.
Across the department store business, “fashion saw fantastic sales”, observed Banks. He said: “Branded fashion goes from strength to strength and it was particularly encouraging to see younger brands up over 30 per cent, demonstrating the increasingly wide appeal of our offer.”
Altium analyst Dave Stoddart said that much of the improvement had been driven by the retailer’s direct business, which was up 28.6 per cent. “The median store performance was -5.6 per cent and the trend remains negative,” he noted.
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