John Lewis is blaming exams for sales slide

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The employee-owned store chain that is seen as a barometer of Britain's retail sector said today that sales at its department stores fell 4.2% in the week to 16 August.

That equates to sales of £47million and is the 10th week out of 15 that sales have fallen at the group.

John Lewis said the distraction of the Olympics and school exams could be behind the fall, but the wider economy is also a factor.

The entire retail sector is in disarray as UK shoppers cut back on spending due to the higher costs of fuel, food and mortgages.

Analysts say like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of new store space, were probably down by as much as 7%.

Some shops have managed to record higher sales in recent weeks, but that is mostly accounted for by inflation.

Waitrose, the supermarkets chain owned by John Lewis, saw sales up 2.3% to £72million, for example. But there was a genuine bounce in sales of champagne and strawberries, perhaps in celebration of exam successes.

In Nottingham's John Lewis sales were down 15% while at London's Oxford Street branch they rose 6%.