Recent Developments
In June 2004, John Lewis announced plans to open its first store in Northern Ireland at the Sprucefield Park development, the province's largest out of town shopping centre, located outside Lisburn and 10 miles (16 km) from Belfast. The application was approved in June 2005 and the opening of the new store was scheduled for 2008. This decision was disputed, however, and was taken to the High Court, where it was reversed.
In 2008, a controversy over the declaration of expenses by UK Members of Parliament revealed that Parliamentary authorities were using information from John Lewis - the 'John Lewis list' - as a guide to the maximum costs refundable to MPs when equipping London pieds à terre at public expense.
On 6 November 2008, it was announced that John Lewis would open their first department store outside the UK in Dublin, Ireland. Subject to planning permission, the shop will be built on O’Connell Street. The centre is being developed by Chartered Land and will be part of the largest retail centre in Ireland. The €1.2 billion development is due to open in 2013.
The Cardiff store opened in September 2009 as part of the St David's Centre — Phase 2 development, and is the largest John Lewis department store in the UK outside of London. The Cardiff branch is also the Partnership's only department store in Wales. Stratford opened in 2011 together with a new Waitrose supermarket. The new shops will anchor the Westfield Stratford City development alongside the Olympic Park in east London.
In February 2011, it was announced that John Lewis was appointed as the Official Department Store provider for the London 2012 Olympic Games. As part of the deal, John Lewis stores will become key retail outlets for official London 2012 merchandise. John Lewis was the 26th domestic sponsor to sign up to London 2012.
Also in February 2011, John Lewis announced it is to open a 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) department store in Birmingham city centre in 2014. John Lewis will be the flagship store for the £100 million development and will be part of a new shopping centre built on the south side of a redeveloped Birmingham New Street railway station.
In November 2011, it was announced John Lewis has shelved plans for a new store in Preston, Lancashire as part of the Tithebarn Project which has now been drastically scaled down. The current economic climate was cited as a key factor in their decision.
It was announced that John Lewis would be the anchor tenant of a new development scheme in Leeds. The Eastgate Quarters scheme was approved in July 2011 and is to be a new shopping and dining quarter in the city centre. John Lewis have been looking for a site in Leeds for a while and are now happy they will be filling a major regional gap. Although the department store pulled out of its Preston plans, the company remains committed to Leeds.
Read more about this topic: John Lewis (department Store)
Famous quotes containing the word developments:
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Freedom from labor itself is not new; it once belonged among the most firmly established privileges of the few. In this instance, it seems as though scientific progress and technical developments had been only taken advantage of to achieve something about which all former ages dreamed but which none had been able to realize.”
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—C. Vann Woodward (b. 1908)