Major UK department store to get spa treatment rooms in new £800,000,000 revamp

A major UK department store is set to invest £800 million towards revamping its branches – with some set to include new luxury spas.

John Lewis took a hiatus following the effects of the pandemic to focus on new ventures, such as renting flats and selling home insurance.

But the John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, has announced that it will be investing in its many chains across Britain which Peter Ruis, the boss of the department store, says are ‘here to stay.’

He said: ‘We all came out of Covid thinking we had trained customers to shop online, and it turned out we hadn’t.

‘There has been a philosophical reset across the whole industry as it realised customers have come rushing back to stores, with younger customers coming back the quickest.’

The company plans to invest a whopping £800 million, with a large amount of that sum to be spent on revitalising its stores.

Improvements have already begun at one of John Lewis’s most popular branches on Oxford Street, London.

The six-storey chain has seen updates on every floor, including a new Waterstones bookshop which opened earlier this month.

The flagship too includes a fragrance hall, an updated jewellery space and a host of new brands have been added to its home department.

Within the Oxford Street chain’s various departments, customers can also enjoy new spa treatment rooms, a piercing and jewellery welding studio and even a Jamie Oliver cooking school which will open in March of next year.

Peter Ruis added: ‘The buzz is back in John Lewis and we’re giving customers even more reasons to shop our brilliant stores.

‘We’re backing ourselves with significant investment to ensure customers get the exceptional quality, outstanding service, and competitive prices they love about our unique brand.’

The department store managed to turn around an annual profit earlier this year but still failed to pay its staff an annual bonus for the third time in four years.

But with rivals Marks & Spencer enjoying a purple patch, Mr Ruis joked that there could be a rivalry as bitter as that between Oasis and Blur in the 1990s in the coming years.

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