John Lewis & Partners, Ashford

We will not be reopening Aberdeen, Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester, Peterborough, Sheffield, Tunbridge Wells, York

At the Partnership’s full year results earlier this month we said that we were planning to reshape our business in response to changing customer shopping habits. As part of this, we believe we can unfortunately no longer profitably sustain a large John Lewis store in some locations, which has resulted in the proposed closures.

The eight shops were financially challenged prior to the pandemic and given the significant shift to online shopping in recent years - and our belief that this trend will not materially reverse - we do not think the performance of these stores can be substantially improved.

There are plenty of ways you can still enjoy the John Lewis experience you know and love. As well as our 34 shops, our website and app remain open to you 24/7 and we’ve introduced hundreds of new next day Click & Collect locations nationwide, including at all John Lewis and Waitrose shops. Our Partners are also on hand to help you with Personal Styling, Home Design and Nursery Advice through our online services and regular events, such as our popular My John Lewis Beauty Weekends.

Visit our shop locator page to see our full list of John Lewis shops.
Within driving distance from the shop, you can collect your John Lewis purchases from six Waitrose stores and one Co-op Click & Collect point.

We have hundreds of Click & Collect locations throughout our John Lewis and Waitrose shops, as well as selected Co-op and Booths stores and Shell garages. When you place your order online, your nearest collection point will appear at checkout, or you can search nearby locations

You can return your purchase to any of our John Lewis & Partners shops. Simply bring your items to the till and make sure you have your proof of purchase and the original payment method with you.

If you're unable to visit one of our shops please contact us and we can arrange for your return to be made by post. Refunds will take up to 14 days. Please call our customer service line on 0345 610 0359 to arrange this.

If you placed an order before our shops temporarily closed in December you should have been contacted by one of our Partners. If you still have an unresolved outstanding order, please contact our Customer Services team.

If you’ve bought a product from us (whether in store or online) that includes a guarantee, it will still be covered. We recommend you visit a John Lewis & Partners shop nearby or contact our Customer Service team if you have any questions or problems.

We offer virtual services. You can book an online appointment and our Partners will help you to style your home, refresh your wardrobe or help parents-to-be prepare for their new arrival.

You can also visit your nearest John Lewis & Partners shop and speak to any of our Partners who will be happy to help you.

Our Customer Service Partners are available to answer any of your questions, or you can find us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, where we’ll be sharing our latest news. You can also sign up to our emails for inspiration, new arrivals and the latest offers to your inbox.

We keep our shops under review to make sure we have the optimal number of shops to serve our customers in the best way that we can. John Lewis shops have a vital role to play within the business and we are working on plans to ensure they continue to meet the needs of our customers.

The priority for us now is the wellbeing and future of our affected Partners and we will enter into consultation with them about our proposals. We are committed to giving each Partner as much support as we can. If redundancies are confirmed, we would explore opportunities for them to work in other areas of our business wherever possible and also support Partners through a unique Retraining Fund to help them prepare for other employment opportunities.

Community Matters is our charitable giving scheme that runs throughout John Lewis & Partners shops. You'll come across a similar scheme at your local Waitrose & Partners, too. Every three months each shop selects three community groups or charities to help.

For the areas where our shops may be closing, it's intended that a Community Investment Fund would be provided and shared between the communities to support local projects.