plc john lewis logo type subsidiary industry retail genre department store founded 1864 1864 founder john lewis headquarters london united kingdom key people andy street managing director john lewis & john spedan lewis revenue 4.060 billion 2013 1 operating income 226 million 2013 owner john lewis partnership number of employees 38 100 website johnlewis.com john lewis is a chain of upmarket department stores operating throughout the united kingdom . the chain is owned by the john lewis partnership which was created alongside the first store in the mid 1800s . the first john lewis store was opened in 1864 in oxford street london . the chain s slogan is never knowingly undersold which has been in use since 1925 . 2 there are 46 stores throughout england scotland and wales including 12 at home stores and flexible format stores in exeter and york . on 1 january 2008 the oxford street store was awarded a royal warrant from her majesty the queen as suppliers of haberdashery and household goods . 3 john lewis reading is also the holder of a royal warrant from the queen in 2007 as suppliers of household and fancy goods . 4 peter jones located in sloane square chelsea is the holder of a royal warrant to both hrh the prince of wales and hrh the duke of edinburgh as draper and furnisher . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 recent history 2 stores 2.1 department stores 2.2 john lewis at home 2.3 airport store 3 recent developments 4 visual identity 4.1 christmas advertising 5 future developments 6 former department stores 7 references 8 external links history edit early history edit john lewis store in liverpool . the flagship store on oxford street began as a drapery shop opened by john lewis in 1864 . in 1905 lewis acquired a second store peter jones in sloane square london . his son john spedan lewis founded the john lewis partnership in 1920 after thinking up the idea during his days in charge of peter jones . john spedan lewis also thought up the idea of the gazette the partnership s in house magazine first published in 1918 . in 1933 the partnership purchased its first store outside london the long established jessop & son in nottingham . jessops only rebranded itself as john lewis on 27 october 2002 . in 1940 the partnership bought selfridge provincial stores . this group of fifteen suburban and provincial department stores included knight & lee southsea ; cole brothers sheffield ; george henry lee liverpool ; robert sayle cambridge ; and trewins watford ; all of which continue to trade today but except knight & lee are now re branded as john lewis . caley s windsor was also included but closed in 2006 . in 1949 it was reported that london branches included peter jones john barnes john pound and bon marche . the provincial branches were robert sayle of peterborough and cambridge tyrell and green of southampton and lance and lance ltd. of weston super mare . they also had silk shops at hull edinburgh and newcastle . 6 in 1953 the famous reading department store heelas became part of the john lewis group and remained named as such under the heelas name until 2001 when it adopted the john lewis name . also in 1953 the partnership bought herbert parkinson a textile manufacturer a business which still makes duvets pillows and furnishings for john lewis . 7 recent history edit john lewis store in cardiff . the first john lewis store constructed as part of a shopping centre was jessops in nottingham which has been a feature of victoria centre since it opened in 1972 . the announcement of an anchor tenant such as john lewis contributes to the certainty of developers proposals and so attracts other retailers to the area . before the relaxation of uk sunday trading laws in 1994 john lewis stores closed on mondays to allow staff a full two day weekend . the john lewis partnership were the first department store group in the uk to adopt central buying launching the jonell e name for own brand merchandise in 1937 . that brand name has gradually been replaced with the john lewis name since 2001 . additional own brands include collection by john lewis as well as john lewis & co. and collection weekend by john lewis . a selection of waitrose own brand products such as cleaning materials and party stationery are also available from john lewis . many stores acquired by the partnership retained their original names for several years including tyrrell & green in southampton until 2000 8 bonds in norwich until 2001 trewins in watford until 2001 jessops in nottingham its first store outside london until 2002 9 bainbridge s in newcastle until 2002 robert sayle in cambridge 10 and cole brothers in sheffield until 2002 . all have now been rebranded john lewis with the exception of peter jones in south west london and knight & lee in southsea . investment has been made across the group over recent years . this has included the renovation of peter jones at a cost of 107 million completed in 2004 . 11 the original oxford street shop is still the flagship and largest branch in the partnership . a complete refurbishment of the building was completed in late 2007 at a cost of 60 million . this introduced the new place to eat restaurant and a brasserie and bistro in the store . a john lewis food hall from waitrose opened in the shop s basement on 3 october 2007 . a second food hall opened at the john lewis bluewater store on 6 august 2009 . stores edit department stores edit as of june 2014 the john lewis partnership operated 42 john lewis stores throughout england wales and scotland . 12 the oxford street store originally opened in 1864 is the largest operated by the partnership . 31 of the stores are traditional department stores and 10 are john lewis at home stores . john lewis at home edit in 2009 john lewis announced a new format of john lewis at home stores the first of which opened in poole in october 2009 . the at home stores are located within pre existing shopping regions and focus on electrical home and technology products . the store in poole opened on 22 october 2009 at the former courts site at the commerce centre retail park in branksome . following the early success of the poole at home store five further at homes opened in 2010 11 in areas outside of the catchment of the traditional john lewis stores including croydon tunbridge wells tamworth chester and swindon . further stores in newbury and chichester west sussex opened in spring 2012 with ipswich following in november 2012 . 13 on thursday 17 june 2015 a new john lewis at home store opened in horsham west sussex along with a branch of waitrose that relocated from the town centre . 14 airport store edit in the summer of 2014 john lewis opened a small store airside in the newly rebuilt terminal 2 at london heathrow airport . 15 16 recent developments edit in june 2004 john lewis announced plans to open its first store in northern ireland at the sprucefield park development the province s largest out of town shopping centre located outside lisburn and 10 miles 16 km from belfast . the application was approved in june 2005 and the opening of the new store was scheduled for 2008 . this decision was disputed and was taken to the high court where it was reversed . in 2008 a controversy over the declaration of expenses by uk members of parliament revealed that parliamentary authorities were using information from john lewis the john lewis list as a guide to the maximum costs refundable to mps when equipping london pieds terre at public expense . the first john lewis store in birmingham opened in 2015 on 6 november 2008 it was announced that john lewis would open their first department store outside the uk in dublin ireland . subject to planning permission the shop will be built on o connell street . the centre is being developed by chartered land and will be part of the largest retail centre in ireland . as of january 2014 the 1.2 billion development is on hold and john lewis are still seeking a location in northern ireland for a flagship department store . 17 westfield stratford city the cardiff store opened in september 2009 as part of the phase 2 development of st david s centre . the cardiff branch is also the partnership s only department store in wales . 18 19 stratford opened in 2011 together with a new waitrose supermarket . the new shops will anchor the westfield stratford city development alongside the olympic park in east london . in february 2011 it was announced that john lewis was appointed as the official department store provider for the london 2012 olympic games . as part of the deal john lewis stores became key retail outlets for official london 2012 merchandise . 20 also in february 2011 john lewis announced it is to open a 250 000 square foot 23 000 m2 department store in birmingham city centre in 2014 . the completion date of 2014 was pushed back to autumn 2015 due to complications regarding the construction of the centre including issues relating to car parks and taxi ranks . with the grand central leasing director keith stone stating the date was pushed back to ensure a better customer experience . 21 the store opened on 24 september 2015 and is the flagship store for the 100 million development and part of the new grand central shopping centre built on the south side of a redeveloped birmingham new street railway station . in november 2011 it was announced john lewis has shelved plans for a new store in preston lancashire as part of the tithebarn project which has now been drastically scaled down . the current economic climate was cited as a key factor in their decision . 22 leeds john lewis at victoria gate a diamond of a building . it was announced that john lewis would be the anchor tenant of a new development scheme in leeds . the eastgate quarters scheme was approved in july 2011 since renamed victoria gate the site guides shoppers from central leeds to john lewis via a luxury arcade continuing over vicar lane from the existing victoria quarter . john lewis had been looking for a site in leeds for a while even considering the headingley cricket ground and are happy they are at long last filling a major regional gap . 23 the veneer of the leeds development references the diagonal lines of the john lewis motif . john lewis has now been announced as an anchor to the 1bn extension of westfield london in shepherd s bush . 24 25 the retailer is also looking at further location possibilities in guildford . it is also thought that the retailer is finally in talks to open a store in central manchester as part of the ramada development . john lewis started a trial in 2013 product labelling the lifetime electricity costs on the household goods . 26 visual identity edit john lewis graphic identity 1990 the graphic identity which has at its core the distinctive diagonal motif was created in 1990 by john lloyd and jim northover of the british design consultancy lloyd northover . in 2000 it was given a minor refresh by london design consultancy pentagram . 27 lines at leeds john lewis the line motif appears to be reflected in the fa ade of the leeds store . christmas advertising edit main article john lewis christmas advert since 2007 john lewis has become known for producing memorable christmas television adverts