West Elm to open in John Lewis Oxford Street

US furniture retailer West Elm is to open concession-style spaces in John Lewis stores starting with the department store chain’s big Oxford Street revamp, which officially opens next week.

West Elm launched its first and — until now — only UK store on London’s Tottenham Court Road at the back end of 2013, with a plan to expand across the country.

It will now open a circa 1,000sqft shop-in-shop within John Lewis’ new Home department on Oxford Street, part of a £14m refurbishment project at the flagship site.

That opens next week on 3rd September, and will feature best-sellers from West Elm’s bedroom, living and dining room programme.

The plan is to take the format across the John Lewis estate, with more West Elm shop-in-shops to open in John Lewis home departments nationwide, with areas staffed by John Lewis and products supplied by West Elm on a wholesale basis.

West Elm — part of the Williams Sonoma group and among the largest furniture retailers in the US — wants to use the format to test locations across the UK before committing to long term leases.

John Lewis told the Furnishing Report that it was too soon to say whether new tie-ups would be in place of, or in addition to, existing space within Home departments at other stores.

It said: “At our Oxford Street shop, West Elm has been introduced as part of the overall refurbishment of the Home department across the 2nd and 3rd floors.

“This project has increased the amount of shop floor space dedicated to Home by expanding into some space formerly used for back of house purposes. For future ventures with West Elm, it is too early to be able to comment on individual locations.”

Source : The Furnishing Report
www.thefurnishingreport.com/