Broken-hearted: sales drop at John Lewis on the week before Valentine’s Day
Sales at retail bellweather John Lewis fell in the second week of February, signalling that the sector may be heading for another poor performance this month after retail sales dropped in January.
Total sales at John Lewis for the week to 11 February were £73m, down two per cent on the same week last year. Fashion sales fell 2.7 per cent, following the recent downward trend in this sector across retail as a whole. In January, fashion sales on the high street were down one per cent year-on-year.
However, furniture sales were particularly strong at the department store, rising 8.1 per cent. Sales in the home department as a whole were up 0.5 per cent.
Read more: UK high street records worst January sales performance for four years
At Waitrose, year-on-year sales were down 2.8 per cent overall, coming in at £124m for the week. There were signs that some people were sticking to a new year health-kick; salad and vegetable sales were up 11 per cent and five per cent respectively. Sales of dried fruit and nuts jumped 23 per cent.
Loraine Woodhouse, finance director at Waitrose, said: "The cold snap last week drove sales of comfort food, with soup up 30 per cent and hot pies rising nearly 100 per cent. Roasts were a popular choice for the weekend, as sales of joints and accompaniments such as stuffing, stocks and gravies all increased."
This meant that the John Lewis Partnership as a whole took £197m in sales last week, a drop of 2.5 per cent on last year.