Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
John Lewis’ first full-line department store to open in London in 20 years was unveiled this week at the opening of the £1.45bn Westfield Stratford City – the largest urban shopping centre in Europe.
The four-storey, 260,000sq ft shop offers 350,000 products in total, including 10,000 official 2012 Olympic Games products such as mascots, pin badges and key rings, homewares, toys and gifts. London 2012 shop visitors will also enjoy spectacular views of the Olympic Stadium and other venues within the Olympic Park.
The store has created more than 750 jobs, with half of the new Partners having been recruited from the local area, including 200 long-term unemployed.
The store is the most carbon-efficient John Lewis shop ever built, with improvements to the design and the addition of an advanced air conditioning and cooling system reducing its carbon footprint by 60%.
Lamps using new technology have been installed on the shop floor to save energy and all timber used was sourced from FSC-certified sustainable sources. Some 99.97% of waste from the build was diverted from landfill.
John Lewis described the launch of the store – less than a year before the Games open – as “one of the most exciting shop openings in the history of John Lewis”.
Said managing director Andy Street: “The spotlight of the world will be on Stratford in the lead-up to and during the 2012 Games and it is right that John Lewis is part of a world-class shopping centre.”
