London, 2016-Oct-23 — /EPR Retail News/ — John Lewis opened its doors to Leeds customers today (20 October 2016), as the anchor to Hammerson’s £150m Victoria Gate Development.
Representing a £37m investment in Leeds, the 255,000 sq ft regional flagship shop has created 550 jobs locally, and is one of the largest John Lewis shops outside of London.
The Leeds shop is the retailer’s most service and experience led to date, offering customers 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’s 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 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 Shop Trade, commented:
John Lewis Leeds is our most service led shop to date, as we look to offer our customers 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.’
Notes to editors
John Lewis – 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. It is part of the John Lewis Partnership, the UK’s largest example of worker co-ownership and all 30,000 John Lewis staff are Partners in the business. John Lewis stocks more than 350,000 separate lines in its department stores across fashion, home and technology and was named ‘Best In-Store Experience’, ‘Best Clothing Retailer,’ ‘Best Electricals Retailer,’ ‘Best Furniture Retailer,’ ‘Best Homewares Retailer’ and ‘Best Click & Collect Retailer’ in the 2016 Verdict Customers Satisfaction awards. johnlewis.com is consistently ranked one of the top online shopping destinations in the UK. John Lewis Insurance offers a range of comprehensive insurance products – home, car, wedding and event, travel and pet insurance and life cover – delivering the values of expertise, trust and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand.
Contact:
At Golley Slater
Holly Skelton
Email: hskelton@golleyslater.co.uk
Mobile: 0114 457 0019
Sophie Atkinson
Email: satkinson@golleyslater.co.uk
Mobile: 0113 457 0017
Source: John Lewis