John Lewis reports surge in New Year sales

Department store chain John Lewis trumped rivals Marks & Spencer and Debenhams over the New Year with a surge in sales. In-store sales rose 23.6% in the week ended January 4th to £113.4m while total sales, including online, jumped 15.8%.Supermarket chain Waitrose also achieved a jump in sales, up 9.3% over the week, as shoppers stocked up on healthy projects for their New Year's resolutions such as vegetables, green tea and porridge.John Lewis reported record Christmas sales, boosted by demand for kitchen appliances and iPads.Barry Matheson, John Lewis's director of retail services, said: "After getting off to a cracking start immediately after Christmas our clearance performance continued to be strong last week, resulting in an outstanding 23.6% on last year."This was despite horrendous weather conditions throughout the whole of the New Year period which did nothing to deter customers shopping with clicks or in bricks."While John Lewis enjoyed a successful festive season Marks & Spencer and Debenhams reported subdued sales. RD