Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
John Lewis opened its doors to Leeds customers today, as the anchor to Hammerson’s £150m Victoria Gate Development.
Representing a £37m investment, the 255,000sq ft regional flagship has created 550 jobs locally, and is one of the largest John Lewis shops outside of London.
The department store group said the Leeds branch is its most ‘experience-led’ to date, offering a range of services from in-store beauty spa concepts and travel agents to ‘an innovative coffee experience’, as well as a full product assortment across John Lewis’ full fashion, beauty, home and technology ranges.
John Lewis Leeds is also supporting local talent by stocking over 120 products from 11 local Yorkshire suppliers, all of which are based within a 30 mile radius of Leeds, as part of the retailer’s new ‘Made Locally’ initiative, in partnership with supplier The Great British Exchange.
In the first hour of opening, the shop saw over two and a half thousand people through its doors, and the very first purchase at John Lewis Leeds was a pair of red leather gloves.
Speaking about the opening, Maggie Porteous, director of shop trade, commented: ‘John Lewis Leeds is our most service led shop to date, as we look to offer experiences that cannot be replicated online. The shop brings all of our best products and services under one roof, and we’re really very excited to be able to open our doors to the shoppers of Leeds today.”
John Lewis operates 48 John Lewis shops across the UK (34 department stores, 12 John Lewis at home and shops at St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 2) as well as johnlewis.com.
