Sales rose 6.1% last week (to 9 August 9) for the department store group John Lewis, with the Home assortments leading the way for the buying teams.

John Lewis director of operations development Simon Russell said: “It was great to see the growing momentum of big ticket purchases, especially in furniture which was up overall by 20%, with beds up 23%, and textiles also performing well. As the summer holiday period passes its peak, the focus now moves to ‘Back to College and University’ and gives us a great opportunity to reinforce our value.”

Online sales increased 20%, helped by high demand for fashion and home lines. Click & collect proved popular with customers and, Simon Russell noted, “we’re very excited to be able to extend this service to an additional 90 Waitrose branches over the next few weeks, offering it in almost all branches”.

High Wycombe led the way among shops, continuing to capitalise on its expansion, with Southampton standing out from the full-line department stores. The smaller At Home shops continued their recent run with Ipswich, Tunbridge Wells and Chichester performing best.