John Lewis to close flagship stores

John Lewis is to close eight of its 50 stores as part of its response to Covid-19, including flagship outlets in Birmingham and Watford, in a move that puts 1,300 jobs at risk.

The decision to shut two full-size department stores in large centres — the Intu complex in Watford and the Grand Central development above Birmingham’s New Street station — is likely to send shockwaves through the retail industry.

The 136,000 square foot Birmingham store opened in 2015 as part of an ambitious redevelopment of the city centre. The managing director of John Lewis at that time, Andy Street, is now the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands.

John Lewis said in a statement on Thursday that the closures were intended “to secure the business’s long-term future and respond to customers’ shopping needs”. It added that “every effort would be made to find new roles” for those who wanted them.

The employee-owned group stressed that, even prior to the pandemic, the eight shops were “financially challenged” and the coronavirus emergency had accelerated the switch from shopping in-store to online. It estimated that online sales could now be 60 or even 70 per cent of the total this year and next, from about 40 per cent before the virus.

“Closing a shop is always incredibly difficult,” said Sharon White, chair of John Lewis. “However, we believe closures are necessary to help us secure the sustainability of the partnership and continue to meet the needs of our customers however and wherever they want to shop.”

The other shops facing closure include travel hub outlets at Heathrow airport and St Pancras station and four of the group’s “At Home” format stores in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth.

The Watford closure is another blow to the Intu shopping centre, given that rival department store chain, Debenhams, had already announced that its store there would close despite being expensively refitted last year and showcased to investors and the media as a blueprint for the future.

John Lewis’s vast store at the Westfield complex in White City, another recent development, will reopen on July 30, along with stores in Aberdeen, Ashford, Brent Cross, Chichester, Oxford, Peterborough, Sheffield and Reading. The group’s store in Leicester will reopen once the lockdown in the city is lifted.