Morning:
13°c
John Lewis suffers as shoppers cut
01.08.08
Department stores group John Lewis today said sales plunged 4.5% last week as shoppers reined in spending in the face of soaring food and fuel bills.
The owner of Peter Jones in Sloane Square and the department store on Oxford Street said revenues fell to £45.8 million. It was the ninth week out of 12 that sales have fallen and underlined the gloom in the economy.
John Lewis is a bellwether of British retailing and when it suffers the rest of the High Street burns.
The John Lewis partnership also owns 189 Waitrose supermarkets where sales increased 3.8% to £75.5 million as households continued to splash out on food.
