Now John Lewis shuts ALL of its stores for the f irst time in 156 years
JOHN Lewis last night revealed it will close all 50 of its stores for the first time in its 156-year history.
The retail chain – which began life as a drapery shop on Oxford Street in 1864 – said the spiralling coronavirus crisis had forced it to take action.
It is the latest retailer to announce mass closures in what is likely to lead to thousands of shuttered stores in empty streets over the coming days.
Other stores to announce they will temporarily close include Ikea, shoe shop Clarks, fashion chains Reiss, River Island, Hobbs and TK Maxx, as well as Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia group which has more than 500 shops for brands including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans and Burton.
Ann Summers and Pret a Manger confirmed last night that they would follow suit, while clothing brand New Look revealed it had temporarily closed all 480 of its UK shops amid ‘uncharted territories for all of us’.
Marks & Spencer and others also said that they would not rule out the possibility of widespread closures.
In a statement, The John Lewis
Partnership said ‘extreme volatility’ in trade had led to the decision. It will continue to sell products online and its 338-store Waitrose grocery chain will remain open.
The c o mpa n y h a s already deployed more than 2,000 John Lewis staff – who own the business through a trust and are referred to as ‘partners’ – to help manage a surge in demand at its Waitrose stores and said more may follow.
Chairman Dame Sharon White said yesterday: ‘It is with a heavy heart that we temporarily close our John Lewis shops.
‘Our partners will, where possible, be taking on important roles in supporting their fellow partners, providing critical services in Waitrose shops and ensuring our customers can get what they need through johnlewis.com, which is seeing extremely strong demand.’
The firm said that orders will still be delivered to customers at homes or through its Click & Collect service from Waitrose stores.
Dame Sharon – who was reportedly seen helping to stack shelves in the Holloway branch of Waitrose in London last week – added: ‘The welfare of our customers, communities and partners is always our absolute priority.
‘The Partnership has traded for more than 155 years, during which time we have faced many difficult periods, including two world wars and the 2008 financial crisis. We all need to continue to support each other and our strength and resilience will be tested. But they will not be broken.’
She said that the company will benefit from the Government’s action on business rates, VAT and wages to ease the financial pain.
John Lewis has also taken steps to reduce expenditure internally.
Dame Sharon added: ‘We are not complacent; the scale of the societal and business impact of coronavirus is like nothing we have seen in recent times.
‘We are seeing a surging demand in Waitrose and online but like other businesses our shop footfall in John Lewis has fallen and this extraordinary volatility makes predicting full year cash flow and profits difficult.’
A spokesman declined to say when the stores would reopen.
Meanwhile, there was mounting concern over the future of Cath Kidston, the fashion and accessories brand, after it admitted it was urgently seeking someone to buy its entire business as it battled to survive the Covid-19 crisis.
It employs about 800 people, and trades from 60 stores in the UK.