John Lewis is to open its first pop-up shop, as part of an omnichannel strategy that links its digital sales channel with its bricks and mortar stores.
The department store group has announced that a 1,200 sq ft shop in Exeter High Street will open on 3 September for about six weeks.
The outlet will give local shoppers a preview of the products that will be available when the city’s first flexible format department store opens on 12 October. Those will include fashion – including the Somerset collection from designer Alice Temperley, beauty, consumer electronics and home products.
As part of John Lewis’ omnichannel strategy, the shop will also act as a Click and Collect hub where shoppers can choose, order and collect more than 200,000 products from johnlewis.com. Orders placed before 7pm will be available for collection from the John Lewis pop-up shop after 2pm the following day.
Peter Ruis, Brand and Buying Director at John Lewis, said: “This way of launching a new shop really engages with the local community, whilst at the same time goes back to the basics of retailing – finding a site, choosing an edited assortment and presenting it to customers in a creative and unique way.”
The John Lewis Exeter shop is the retailer’s first flexible format department store. It will feature fashion, beauty, consumer electronics, home and nursery in over 65,000sq ft of selling space spread on five floors. It will be the biggest John Lewis shop to open this year and the first to open in Devon and Cornwall.
