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John Lewis Edinburgh opens its doors to customers

Posted: 24th May 2021

John Lewis & Partners Edinburgh opened its doors to customers once again on 14 May after a multi-million pound refurbishment. A new shopping landmark for Edinburgh, the renovation is an important part of our strategy to invest in our existing estate, creating inspiring spaces to showcase our products, experiences and services.

The shop, which is located within the new St James Quarter – one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects, boasts a brand new range of services and experiences. This includes a Beauty Studio, Personal Styling services, our largest ever ‘World of Design’ to provide home design inspiration and advice, a refreshed Nursery department offering ‘All Things Baby’ nursery appointments to provide parents-to-be and new parents with guidance and support as well as a new large electricals department, which will make shopping for fridges, cookers and washing machines a seamless and sensory experience. To deliver a fun day out shopping for all the family, the newly designed shop will feature interactive and colourful play areas so friends and family alike can relax and enjoy themselves.

Barry Blamire, Head of Branch for John Lewis Edinburgh, said: “We are so excited to be opening once again and welcoming customers into our refurbished shop. The past year has shown just how much our customers rely on our Partners for that much needed advice and guidance.  This new shop provides an inspirational physical space to come and browse everything and anything from homeware to fashion, nursery to technology.

“The new look store has been designed as a hub of inspiration, curation, convenience and personal advice. We invite customers to come and visit our biggest ever World of Design for home styling, speak to an expert Beauty advisor at our first ever Scottish Beauty Studio, or to get advice in our redesigned Nursery department. We also want to welcome families and there are lots of fantastic design elements and fun spaces for children to explore safely while their parents browse.”

The shop will also pay tribute to the city of Edinburgh with features such as two life-size model stags, an Edinburgh Gin pop up shop, an interactive Hornby Flying Scotsman model in our Toys department and our very own Greyfriars Bobby statue.

Some of the services and features of the newly designed shop include:

WORLD OF DESIGN:

Our biggest ever World of Design hub is a grand studio space, almost 3,000 square feet, where home stylists will offer free drop-in appointments to help customers design an instant home makeover. There will be inspiring room sets so customers can visualise how the latest furniture can be styled with lamps, rugs, bookshelves to create a stylish new room. Customers can also create a bespoke magnetic moodboard with samples of carpets, wallpaper and fabric, to make it easier to remodel their home.

BEAUTY:

The Edinburgh shop will house our Beauty Society – a free, concierge-style service where customers are able to seek trusted and impartial advice from John Lewis beauty experts across our full offering of powerhouse brands to smaller, emerging labels. We are also opening two beauty treatment rooms where luxury aesthetics clinic, the Cavendish Clinic, will offer bespoke treatments such as Laser hair removal and Cellulite treatments as well as retailing medical grade skin care such as Dr Levy, SkinCeuticals and ZO. This is the first time our Beauty Tech and Wellness departments will be available in one of our shops and new concepts including ‘Bitesize Beauty’ will be installed housing over 40 brands with travel sized beauty products. Menswear will also feature its own beauty and grooming area that includes traditional skincare brands such as Clarins, Clinique and Elemis alongside niche brands Murdock and War Paint as well as best selling fragrances.

FAMILY FRIENDLY:

Our newly renovated childrenswear space is a bright, colourful space to shop for everything you need for little ones. In a first for one of our John Lewis shops, we also have a number of fun, interactive play areas dotted around the shop to encourage parents to relax while their young kids play. This includes a teepee, giant soft play cube game, digital coffee table with a touch-screen top and a soft-play vegetable patch.

NURSERY:

Our new and enhanced nursery department and service offers an All Things Baby appointment for expectant parents and our newly launched Baby & Beyond appointment supports customers with product purchases as their baby enters the “Child Development stage” – from weaning and feeding to baby proofing and sleeping.

NEOM COUNTER:

The first of its kind in Scotland, our Edinburgh shop will have a dedicated NEOM shop, bringing customers a counter of calm within our newly refurbished Candle department. Customers can take a ‘scent Discovery’ experience and explore wellbeing ranges from sleep to De-Stress and Energy.

IXIA FLOWERS:

As an award-winning florist, IXIA brings a desire to provide every home with a little bit of happiness offering flower boxes on nationwide delivery with free delivery. Edinburgh will house a fully staffed IXIA shop in shop.

WOMENSWEAR AND MENSWEAR:

The Womenswear and Menswear departments have all increased in size offering a much wider collection of brands such as Sweaty Betty and The Fold for women and Albam Utilities, Barbour White Label and Community Clothing for men. Customers will also be able to try out our one-on-one personal styling appointments – from a wardrobe refresh to help finding the perfect pair of jeans.

The wider St James Quarter, of which John Lewis Edinburgh is a part of and which is the largest UK regeneration project, will open on 24 June 2021, providing a major boost to the city’s businesses and creating a fantastic new place for the city’s shoppers to visit. The John Lewis Edinburgh shop will be open from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

Business Comment

Business Comment is the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce’s bi-monthly magazine. It provides insight on Edinburgh’s vibrant business community, with features on the city’s key sectors, interviews with leading figures and news on new business developments in the capital.
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