John Lewis reveals plans for reopening with “fuss free” shopping

John Lewis has today announced measures to ensure its customers can shop safely and conveniently - both in-store and online - in the three-week run-up to Christmas from 2 December when it can reopen its stores in England.

Plans include offering the opportunity to book timed shopping slots in advance, and shops given flexibility to extend trading hours where they see fit.

Customers will be able to pre-book their visit online at JohnLewis.com to any John Lewis shop, including those in Scotland and Wales. They will receive a confirmation email once they have booked and will be asked to show their booking on their personal device on arrival at their chosen store.

For those visiting a John Lewis store without pre-booking, if there are queues outside then customers can be added to a virtual queue and be provided with a timeframe around when they should return to the store.

In addition to more than 900 click and collect locations available across the UK, customers can also collect their orders from 15 Waitrose and 16 John Lewis car parks, where they can simply stay in their car while a Partner brings their purchases out to them.

Self check-in for click and collect is also available at 98 Waitrose shops, where customers can check in to collect their parcel via their personal device.

Pippa Wicks, Executive Director at John Lewis, said: "We’re excited to reopen our shops in England and we’re looking forward to welcoming back our customers to help them make this Christmas extra special.

“Our priority is to make sure that they are able to shop as safely and easily as they can, whether in our shops or online, while continuing to be delighted and inspired by our Christmas offer.

“While the nation is famous for its love of queuing we want to make sure that, as temperatures drop, our customers have the chance to do their Christmas shopping in a comfortable, convenient way, however they choose to shop with us. Our Partners have been busy making our shops look and feel as festive as ever and we hope that they will bring our customers some Christmas cheer as they prepare for the festive season.”

To help spread footfall over a longer period so customers can continue to shop safely, John Lewis shops will have the option to extend trading hours in the run up to Christmas to give them greater flexibility. Customers are advised to check times of individual shops online.

The shops are also supporting the John Lewis and Waitrose ‘Give A Little Love’ campaign, which is aiming to raise £4m for two charities: FareShare, which helps those facing food poverty and Home-Start, which works with parents who need support.

Customers will be able to buy ‘Give A Little Love’ products ranging from mugs to T-shirts and the heart umbrella, which features in this year’s Christmas advert, with 100% of the profits from the sale of those products to be donated to the charities.