John Lewis is committing £20m to a revamp of its Glasgow store in what is seen as a huge vote of confidence in the city and in the Buchanan Galleries which has survived a demolition proposal.
The investment represents the bulk of £50m which the partnership will spend this financial year on upgrade a number of outlets around the UK. The plan is to spend £800m by 2029 on rebooting all its 36 branches.
It said every part of the 28,000 sq metre store would be affected and that a a new John Lewis Platter in-house cafe-restaurant would be introduced alongside more women’s and men’s fashion labels.
The store will remain open throughout, with the refurbishment expected to finish early next year.
Sales at John Lewis’s department stores increased by 3% to £4.9bn in the year to 31 January, with underlying profit up 29% to £58m.
The investment by the Buchanan Galleries’ anchor tenant comes just months after its owner, LandSec, won planning permission last year for an overhaul, having dropped proposals to demolish it as part of a new retail and living space.
Instead, LandSec has acquired adjacent buildings to expand its offering into leisure and dining.
The news from John Lewis will provide a boost to the famous shopping ‘Z’ of Argyle Street, Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street. Buchanan Galleries sits at the foot of the latter which has suffered from closures and general neglect.
However, the former Watt Brothers department store is being converted into a hotel and the site of the demolished Marks & Spencer store is to be student accommodation.
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