Department store John Lewis will open a  further two home stores as part of its rollout plan for 2011.

The new John Lewis at home shops will be located in Exeter and Chester and are slated to open by Autumn 2011 after a £15.5m investment from the retailer.

The Exeter store will be the first city centre Home store for John Lewis. Its existing home stores all trade from out-of-town retail parks.

The Exeter store will trade from a five storey former department store. The Chester store is the first home format store to open in the North. Both sites are owned by Land Securities.

John Lewis currently trades from three at home stores - Poole, Croydon and Swindon - with the fourth is due to open in Tunbridge Wells later this month.

Ashworth Chartered Surveyors and Cushman & Wakefield acted for John Lewis.