John Lewis has revealed a major transformation of its retail business, anchored by a £6.5 million upgrade of its flagship Oxford Street store and plans to invest £800 million in the brand over four years.

The 160-year-old Oxford Street location has undergone significant improvements across all six floors, featuring an expanded Beauty Hall that now houses 41 beauty counters and 175 brands - a 15 per cent increase. New additions include The Inkey List, Mac, and The Ordinary.

The retailer has announced a partnership with chef Jamie Oliver to open a flagship Cookery School and Cafe in spring 2025. The 4,600 sq ft space will include two classrooms offering over 40 lessons and a 50-seat cafe, with free cookery lessons for children during school holidays.

Jamie Oliver Group chief executive officer Kevin Styles welcomed the partnership, stating: "This is the next step in growing the footprint of the Jamie Oliver Cookery School across the UK and internationally and central to making Jamie's stripped back, chef-inspired food accessible to everyone."

The renovation includes a dedicated fragrance space featuring new brands Kilian, Parfum de Marly, and Loewe, while the jewellery department has relocated to the first floor with new services including piercing and jewellery welding.

The Oxford Street store will serve as a test bed for improvements that will be rolled out across other John Lewis locations, with stores in High Wycombe and Cheadle also receiving significant investment in their Beauty Halls. The developments include a new Waterstones bookshop and rooftop restaurant and bar, named 1864.

Deputy mayor for business and growth Howard Dawber praised the investment, saying it demonstrates London's position as a leading location for beauty and fashion retail, adding that the developments will improve the shopping experience for both Londoners and tourists.

Peter Ruis, executive director for John Lewis, earlier this week said the company was "quietly optimistic" about the upcoming Christmas period, with the retailer's Christmas shop sales already up 18 per cent year-on-year. "You tend to get a feel for these things and what we've seen is this optimism build as we've gone into the autumn season," he told reporters.

Ruis said the post-COVID return of shoppers to physical stores had given the group confidence to invest in its estate, with £126 million spent this year and a further £136 million committed for 2025. "We all came out of COVID thinking 'had we trained the customer to live online', and we found out really quickly that we hadn't," he explained.

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