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The flagship store on Oxford Street began as a drapery shop, opened by John Lewis in 1864. In 1905 Lewis acquired a second store, Peter Jones in Sloane Square, London.His eldest son, John Spedan Lewis, began the John Lewis Partnership in 1920 after thinking up the idea during his days in charge of Peter Jones.
The developer is the Westgate Oxford Alliance, a joint venture between the Crown Estate and Land Securities Group Plc. [13] [14] The new centre has almost 800,000 square feet (74,000 m 2) of retail, restaurant and leisure space including a new John Lewis, a rooftop dining terrace with views across Oxford's skyline, and a five screen Curzon ...
Selfridges is the only retailer still trading in the same building, which still bears the scars of war damage, while John Lewis has moved. [18] Bourne & Hollingsworth was located in the now closed Plaza Shopping Centre at No 120, while Peter Robinson is now Niketown at No 200–236. [18]
John Lewis & Partners: Oxford Street, London: 1864 The largest of the traditional department store groups in the UK in terms of sales and profit. John Lewis owns 30 full-line department stores. Nine long-established stores, each trading under their original name, have been re-branded as 'John Lewis' since 2000.
The stores are in a mixture of city centre and out-of-town shopping centre locations. The flagship Oxford Street store in London remains the largest John Lewis outlet in the UK. [38] 'John Lewis at Home' stores cater for areas which have no large John Lewis department store near them. The first store opened in Poole in October 2009. [39]
During the 1940s, smaller provincial Selfridges stores were sold to the John Lewis Partnership, and in 1951, the original Oxford Street store was acquired by the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores. [4] Lewis's and Selfridges were then taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group, owned by Charles Clore. [5]
After a period of troubled trading and Jones' death, the store was purchased by John Lewis of the eponymous Oxford Street store, who handed it over to his son John Spedan Lewis in 1914. Soon after, it became part of the John Lewis profit sharing partnership.
Bomb-damaged shell of John Lewis following an air raid, September 1940. During the Second World War, Oxford Street was bombed several times. Overnight and in the early hours of 17 to 18 September 1940, 268 Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 bombers targeted the West End, particularly Oxford Street.