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Christmas could be better than retailers feared after John Lewis today said sales soared 13% in the first week of its festive shopping season.
The department store — viewed as a barometer of High Street spending — raked in £55.4 million for the week to 10 October.
The rise came against tough comparables, but there were still good signs for the coming weeks. Sales in its newly opened Christmas shop, which is dedicated to the festive season, were 14.7% higher than at the same time last year. Director Andrew Murphy said John Lewis was “well into the foothills of the steady climb to Christmas”. He added: “How we respond to this over the next 10 weeks will be the major factor in determining how successful 2009 is.”
More positive signs were spotted by greeting card seller Clinton Cards, which today said sales since August are up 2.9% on last year as it posted an annual pre-tax profit of £24.1 million.
