John Lewis 'At Home' could grow to 30 branches

John Lewis says it believes there at least 30 UK locations that could support a ‘John Lewis at home’ store, the format that blends the online with bricks and mortar.

The ‘at home’ shops are smaller than John Lewis department stores and focus on homewares, furniture, furnishings, electrics and home technology. Computer kiosks bring the online sales channel into the branch, allowing shoppers to browse the full range of John Lewis stock and order for home delivery or next-day collection at the shop.

The new-look stores were introduced following market research by the retailer that showed consumers from across the UK wanted to be able to shop at a John Lewis branch within 40 minutes of their home.

Announcing the opening of the second at home store, in Croydon this week, John Lewis said it believed “there are at least 30 locations, if not more across the UK which could support an ‘at home’ outlet.”

Tim Harrison, head of format development at John Lewis, said: “We’ll continue to trial our John Lewis at home format in 2010, as we believe that with this new accessible format there is a really strong opportunity to grow our business in the home and electricals sector and offer them to a wider customer base.

“We are confident these smaller format shops will serve our customers well by giving them convenient access to John Lewis products.

“We have also shown our ability to deliver a high level of customer service in a smaller format, which is the ultimate test.”

The company has already opened two John Lewis at home stores, in Poole and Croydon. By the end of this year it will also have stores in Swindon and Tunbridge Wells.

Source : Chloe Rigby - Internet Retailing