// John Lewis to open mini shops in Waitrose stores
// John Lewis Partnership chair Sharon White said she wants most of Waitrose’s stores to contain a John Lewis implant
// It comes as John Lewis plans to shutter as many as 8 more department stores
John Lewis has reportedly set out plans to launch hundreds of shop-in-shops inside Waitrose stores.
The department store chain is also plotting a smaller “local” format as part of a radical overhaul of its portfolio.
John Lewis Partnership chair Dame Sharon White said she wants most of Waitrose’s 331 stores to contain a John Lewis implant within the next 12 to 18 months, The Times reported.
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John Lewis launched its fifth shop-in-shop inside a Waitrose at the grocer’s Wallingford branch during February.
However, White said she plans to roll out the format across the country as the company reshapes its store estate.
White’s plans for a smaller “local” format is inspired by a similar move by Nordstrom in the US.
It comes as John Lewis plans to shutter as many as eight more department stores, which are likely to be unveiled alongside the Partnership’s full-year results on March 11.
In total, the closures could reduce John Lewis’s estate by a third to 34 outlets and result in more than 2000 job losses.
The shop-in-shops will help reduce property costs, enable cross-selling and offer a wide-range of general merchandise online.
With two-thirds of John Lewis’s £4.8 billion annual sales expected to go online by 2025, White is working on re-establishing the retailer’s position in the digital market.
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