John Lewis has reported that sales from Sunday to Wednesday are 5% ahead of last week and over 16% ahead of 2008 levels.

Andrew Murphy, director of operational development, said it “has been a great week so far for our central London shops, with Oxford Street 19% up on last year and Peter Jones 16% ahead of 2008”. He added that the refurbished and extended Bluewater store is “leading the way through at +23%”.

He said: “There is also a really pleasing indication of the health of our business in provincial city centres with Newcastle, Cardiff, Cambridge, Norwich, Glasgow, Nottingham, Leicester and Liverpool all performing exceptionally well. Needless to say that our online growth continues at pace with sales continuing to build on both last week and last year.”

John Lewis said some highlights were Zeppelin speaker docks sales up 31%, Uggs up 10%, it is selling a camcorder every two minutes and Christmas doormats with its robin design up 21% on last week.

Hosiery had a record week, with the department store selling more pairs of tights than ever before.