Friday May 16, 07:53 AM
John Lewis week to May 10 department store sales down 4.3 percent UPDATE
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LONDON (Thomson Financial) - John Lewis Partnership (LSE: BD32.L - news) , the U.K. employee-owned retailer,
said week to May 10 sales at its 26 department stores fell 4.3 percent year-on-year to 46.98 million pounds, held back by hot weather.
'We always knew the first really hot week would inevitably cause a dip in sales, and so it did!' said John Lewis retail operations director Patrick Lewis.
'Not surprisingly, our customers enjoyed the sunshine, leaving footfall well down in the shops.'
However, the sales downturn at John Lewis' department stores was outweighed by a strong performance at the company's 187 Waitrose supermarkets, where sales rose 7.8 percent on the year to 78.43 million pounds.
The increase reflected robust sales of summer goods including barbecue products, salads, beer and suntan lotion.
That helped lift total partnership sales for the week to 125.42 million pounds, an increase of 2.9 percent compared with the same period last year.
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