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Posted by: betsy Apr 18 2012, 08:20 AM

I am assuming the NWN was given a sneaky PEEK at the new John Lewis!!

Posted by: betsy Apr 18 2012, 08:40 AM

It worked. They've changed it already.

Posted by: Simon Kirby Apr 18 2012, 10:12 AM

Do you think they were on to summit? This week's top story?

Posted by: betsy Apr 18 2012, 10:18 AM

Well spotted Simon.

Posted by: John C Apr 18 2012, 07:36 PM

Reminds me not to go into town on Friday

Posted by: Grumpy Apr 19 2012, 07:43 AM

Spelling boo boo again:

Staff (now called partners) are

shinning off the new display units

Posted by: massifheed Apr 19 2012, 08:32 AM

Staff at JL have been called partners for ages. It's a co-operative, so the term is accurate.

Posted by: massifheed Apr 19 2012, 08:37 AM

Not the bit about "shinning off the new display units" though.

Posted by: Exhausted Apr 19 2012, 04:59 PM

Partners or not, just a reminder that this is a John Lewis at Home, not the big version and not that much different from Camp Hopsons apart from that they don't have partners. I'm afraid the West Berks hype might leave a few shoppers dissapointed.

Posted by: Cognosco Apr 19 2012, 05:25 PM

No surprises there then? And all this for the loss of a cafe area that did not overpower Victoria Park.
Still what can you expect? The usual standard for local authorities in Newbury!

Posted by: dannyboy Apr 19 2012, 05:46 PM

Isn't it a JL just minus the clothes?

Posted by: dannyboy Apr 19 2012, 05:46 PM

LOL, what are you on?

Posted by: user23 Apr 19 2012, 06:04 PM

I think they may have a wider range of home products than a standard John Lewis.

Posted by: Cognosco Apr 19 2012, 06:56 PM

The cafe area was the only bit of the project that was half decent. But of course that was only put on the drawing board to give a good impression before planning permission was granted. As usual the council gave way and we had a far bigger construction area than was originally planned.

John Lewis could have utilised any number of the units not let and still had the same floor space or maybe even bigger than the present floor space. I am sure all the empty units will neve be let in any case.

Posted by: HeatherW Apr 19 2012, 07:52 PM

I went into John Lewis on Saturday (In London) and they were expensive. A Welcomer on the door, directing people to where they wanted to go. Too rich for my tastes. But then if people got the money we have got to cater for all tastes and there are a lot of rich in Newbury.

Posted by: dannyboy Apr 20 2012, 07:26 AM

Never knowingly undersold.

Posted by: Exhausted Apr 20 2012, 04:37 PM

I'm not quite sure what that means, it doesn't say anything about matching prices of comparable items, just that they know about it.

I'm not wanting anything in the furniture or consumer electronics at the moment so there's no point in my taking a look, but I would be interestd in hearing from others what they thought of the experience and the "partners".

Posted by: Jayjay Apr 20 2012, 05:49 PM

I popped in today and was impressed. Expoected TV's and furniture but they have many other things. A skin care area (not make-up), really nice gift section, games and jigsaws, food such as chocolate and jams, lovely glass and crockery, birthday cards and wrapping. Checked the prices and they dont seem any more than comparable stores such as M&S or Camp's and the TV's were slightly cheaper but with a five year guarantee.

Posted by: Andy Capp Apr 20 2012, 05:58 PM

One tends to get what one pays for. John Lewis have a good reputation for after sales care; 'the Internet' doesn't.

I think the town has to aim at the affluent. The people that like reassuringly expensive parking and shopping choice. There is no money in the great unwashed who buy off of the Internet, Tesco, or 'knocked-off stuff from ebay'. It is no surprise that it is the better quality supermarkets, for instance, that are doing better sales wise.

Posted by: dannyboy Apr 20 2012, 07:11 PM

it means they'll match any price.

Posted by: Exhausted Apr 21 2012, 02:48 PM

Are you sure about that. ?.

Talking about reassuringly expensive, has anyone clocked the prices of the wrist watches in the watch shop in the Parkway. I wouldn't think they sell many of those in a day.

Posted by: Newbelly Apr 21 2012, 03:34 PM

Yes, but with the mark-up on expensive watches, perhaps they don't need to! Many yonks ago an ex of mine worked in a posh watch specialist and she could get 50% staff discount on a watch (I think staff were only allowed to buy one a year or something similar).

Posted by: JeffG Apr 21 2012, 03:41 PM

That's what I've always understood it to mean, too. "Never knowingly undersold" could be rephrased as "As long as we know about it, no one else will sell it at a lower price." But their phrase is more succinct and is unambiguous.

Posted by: Cognosco Apr 21 2012, 04:18 PM

Not sure if they still do it but each store, John Lewis, Curry's, Comet, etc. had their own exclusive model Number on any items they sold? For instance a Samsung television model Number 4560 from Samsung would be 4560A2 or something from John Lewis and 4560B6 from Curry's. Although exactly the same spec you would be unable to say any one store was cheaper than the other because you were not comparing the same model number. That is how they they got round to saying it can't be bought cheaper anywhere else and be able to stay within consumer law. A friend of mine was a purchaser for white goods in one of the stores and he explained this to me some years ago. No matter what legislation comes in to protect the consumer the stores always look for the loopholes to persuade us their store is the best and cheapest. All part of the marketing ploy!

Posted by: Strafin Apr 21 2012, 04:57 PM

Maybe years ago that happened but it is pretty rare these days. In fact I think it might be either illegal or against some code of conduct somewhere. It does happen because Brighthouse do it, but they don't have a price promise!

Posted by: dannyboy Apr 22 2012, 01:15 PM

I bought a Kenwood food processor from JL in reading about 15 months ago. Found a cheaper pirice online & JL matched it.