John Lewis

As I live and shop quite frequently at John Lewis Cheadle my review here will focus mainly on my experiences of that store although I have shopped at several John Lewis department stores.

About John Lewis.

John Lewis is a large chain of department stores across the UK with the flagship store being Oxford Street in London. The John Lewis partnership also operates the food store Waitrose.

There are three stores in Scotland (Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow), there are four stores in the North of England including Cheadle, Newcastle, Sheffield and Liverpool. A brand new store at the Trafford Centre is opening in May 2005.

In Central England you can find stores in Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Nottingham, Solihull and Peterborough.

In the capital you will find stores in Brent Cross, Kingston, Oxford Street and Peter Jones.

And finally in the south there are stores in Bluewater, Bristol, High Wycombe, Reading, Southampton, Southsea, Watford, Welwyn and Windsor.

What do they sell?

John Lewis is a large department store that basically sells everything under the sun! They sell a wide range of good value makes as well as more popular designer articles. The prices are comparable at John Lewis with elsewhere and the John Lewis motto is 'never knowingly undersold' and they do offer a price match promise (although I think that this excludes online shopping). The store also has two sales (called stock clearances) in January and the summer and you can normally pick up some great furniture bargains at this time.

BASEMENT:
John Lewis in Cheadle is split on three floors at starting in the basement you find men's clothing. Here they sell an ok ish range of means clothing although this is getting better all of the time. The largest brand they sell is Guise which is an in-house make; although Guise clothes are never going to set the fashioned worlds blazing they do offer good value for money and a wide range of casual and more formal clothes for men. The men's department offers a good range of causal clothes and do lots of holiday type summer clothes in the right season. Some makes that are stocked include: French Connection, Ted Baker, Reis, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo/Ralph Lauren. They also do a good range of formal wear including shorts, suits etc including makes such as Pierre Cardin, Daniel Hechter etc.

John Lewis furniture is also on the ground floor and they have a great range of kitchens, electrical goods for the home, bedroom furniture, garden furniture, painting and decorating equipment, bathrooms and much, much more!! Basically if you are after a good quality make of household item (e.g. Miele washing machine) then John Lewis offers very knowledgeable staff, price matches quality items and a very wide selection!

They also have a great TV and DVD electrical department which also features mobiles, landline phones and PCs. The department is not huge so there isn't a never ending selection but they do have the latest models and frequently introduce newer products. John Lewis also stock lots of accessories such as cords, SCAT leads etc. truly making it a one stop shop!

GROUND FLOOR:
Here is householders dream as you wander from the wild and the exotic from carpets and flooring to lampshades, ready made bedding and curtains, rolls upon rolls of material (literally hundreds of them!!) to washing up liquid! You really do find anything and everything on this floor and here's my best-guess list of all it has to offer from memory:

Carpets, rugs, curtains (ready made), glasses, crockery, pots and pans, bathrooms accessories, fiction and none-fiction books, wrapping paper, cards, games. Jigsaws, food processors, kettles, kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaners, clocks, light fittings, batteries, curtain poles, cleaning materials, heaters, presents and gifts, snacks, towels, hairdryers etc.

If you are after good quality items for your home then John Lewis offers a very wide ranging stock of the usual and more unusual items that you will need! They have a great range of materials including all the associated bits n bobs that you will need as well as a great selection of pictures and mirrors.

FIRST FLOOR:
The first floor is the ladies domain dominate by the latest ladies fashions such as Kookai, Coast, Mexx, Gerry Weber, Maxmara, Betty Barclay and so much more! Sorry that I don't know more about what this floor has to offer but there does seem to be a good mix of fashions for old and young including shoes and accessories such as handbags ad purses. There is also a big children's clothing department as well as baby buying area with clothing, accessories, necessities and furniture; a friend of mine swears by the JL baby department!

Here you will; also find a well stocked perfume/make up area although JL offers a refreshing treat I that this does not dominate half of the store! Here you will find the usual wide range of aftershaves and perfumes from all your favourite designers such as Hugo Boss, Dior, Chanel etc as well as good range of Molton Brown products (one of my favourites!) The first floor also offers a good sized haberdashery department as well as a great sunglass, jewellery and watch counter that have great designer makes such as Gucci, D&G etc.

Eating there?

The Cheadle stores features two cafes/restaurants the first being located just outside the main store on the ground floor in the space between Sainsbury's and John Lewis. In this café you will find a good range of snacks and cakes including sandwiches and panines as well as hot and cold drinks. The café is more of a stop off for a quick bite of lunch rather than somewhere you would sit leisurely for hours.

Opening times:

As far as I am aware all of the John Lewis stores open seven days a week and the Cheadle store, for example, is open between 9am and 8pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. As the store is out of the city centre, there is plenty of free parking and at the Cheadle store you will conveniently find a Sainsbury's store located next to JL as well as Tesco, Marks and Spencer located five minutes drive away at Handforth Dean. Not all of the city centre stores (e.g. Sheffield and those in London) have their own car parks and those that do are chargeable!

More information?

John Lewis has a comprehensive website which features online ordering as well as lots of corporate information including recruitment if you fancy working at one of the stores! The website contains the opening hours of the individual stores as well as listing the main product lines etc. that they sell and direction to the store.

Interesting facts or fiction?

I'm not sure if it is true or not anymore but all John Lewis staff used to be share holders and as such had a great personal interest in the store providing the best possible service and hence why I think that such high levels of customer service are maintained at all tines. I'm not too sure whether this is still the case with the stores now.

Don't live near a John Lewis shop or like home shopping?

John Lewis now offer a good online ordering service that you can access by going to their website as well as a very nice catalogue which offers a great range of products for the home and you often find more items in there than you do in the shops! Home delivery is free on orders over a certain value (I think that this is for any orders over £200 or so) so shopping from the ease of your own home can be simple enough! They also offer a good and easy to use returns and exchange policy.

I have had many items delivered from John Lewis and have never experienced any problems. The delivery is fast and efficient and the delivery time is usually a morning or afternoon and they are very prompt with helpful and courteous staff.

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Schemes?
John Lewis launched a new Visa/Master store card last year that you can obviously use to buy purchases anywhere around the world. As with many newer cards you now accumulate points that are turned into vouchers (not prizes or a Brucey bonus!) that can be used in store. I haven't got one of these cards but I know that they have been very popular and that people who use the card a lot (i.e. a few hundred pounds per month) do end up with several £10 vouchers per quarter. You also get more points for money that you spend in the John Lewis stores and at Waitrose.

There's more...
John Lewis also offer the 'Never knowingly undersold' scheme which means that if you find a product cheaper anywhere else they will refund the difference. I think that this offer is limited to retailers nationwide and does not include internet shopping but I did try this with a TV and they did match the price and gave me an extended warranty.

John Lewis is also becoming an increasingly popular place to have your wedding list as they offer such a wide range of household items!

The other great thing about John Lewis is that the level of customer service is very high. I have purchased many electrical items and through the law of averages some things have stopped working over the years. If you take any item back they always either replace it on the spot or will give you a replacement whilst they fix it. Although many stores and retailers do offer this kind of service John Lewis do definitely seem to be a no quibble kind of store where customer service is the most important thing.