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John Lewis department store in Barkers Pool


Sheffield History

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I spent 22 years in the retail sector, mostly in management, sadly most of the directors that I dealt with had never stepped on a shop floor in anger. Unlike M&S you can’t use JL on a daily basis. in my opinion they would have fared far better if they has incorporated a Waitrose in their stores, of the like of an M&S food section.

 

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Regarding the "never knowingly undersold" slogan, last time I used a John Lewis store I found this to be true. I wanted a Roberts Vintage radio; John Lewis offered them at £107, which seemed rather dear. But a look on the internet showed that all other stockists, be they real or on-line only, charged the same or (more often) a higher price.

 

   As JL own the flourishing Waitrose supermarket chain, Dave's suggestion of incorporating one into the department store would seek to be a good one. No doubt it was considered, but why would it have been turned down?

 

We have just lost our nearest JL store, in Peterborough - it closed during the "second lockdown" and simply never reopened. But we continue to get our grocery deliveries from Waitrose. They don't have the "never knowingly undersold" slogan, and on some goods their prices are higher than those of Tesco. But they do not charge for delivery (our local Tesco charges £4.50) which helps redress the financial balance.

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We are moving house on Monday and we were looking for a good quality tv corner unit, my son saw one via Facebook being sold off as the owner had died, now the John Lewis link, the photo shows the unit, solid wood bought for £150 eighteen months ago, still has instructions on how to treat the wood and my son bought it for us for £15, now that’s a bargain and the quality is just 1st class.

367D9B7E-C0EA-4379-8F27-DB2DDE0E70C2.jpeg

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Every dog has it’s day, JL have had theirs, they’ve done very little to address the changes in the retail market and have contributed to their downfall, such is life.

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On 28/07/2021 at 16:57, Lysanderix said:

I used the footbridge on the odd times I needed their admin.

I understood they were “partners” by virtue of their sharing in profits.Recent management changes seem to have changed this concept…as indeed the very nature of shopping at John Lewis.

Yes my brother worked there many years ago - they were 'partners' in a quaint old fashioned way and did get a share of profits in good years. However whether this involved being able to vote Directors in or out I doubt. The latest woman in charge seems to be the one responsible for the recent decisions.

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I remember Cole Bros in the 1950s, when the exotic aroma of their coffee roasting machine wafted through their ground floor open window by the entrance on the High Street. My Auntie Margaret worked for a while in accounts having moved from Atkinson's on the Moor - destroyed by high explosive and incendiary bombs in the 1940 Sheffield Blitz. Cash payments went from the sales counters directly up to accounts by vacuum tube with the change arriving back in little containers. We considered Walsh's to be slightly more upmarket and a bit more more expensive in that era.

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I read a suggestion that the City ,having paid £5 million for the building to encourage John Lewis to remain as a Sheffield outlet ,will be demolished.A planned smaller building will be erected with the rest being turned into a park.

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What date did John Lewis Sheffield actually close.

What date did it last actually serve a customer ? Was that different from its official closure date ?

Did it actually ever reopen after the Lockdown (the first one.....) ?

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18 hours ago, JS2021 said:

What date did John Lewis Sheffield actually close.

What date did it last actually serve a customer ? Was that different from its official closure date ?

Did it actually ever reopen after the Lockdown (the first one.....) ?

It never reopened after lockdown despite all the efforts of Sheffield City Council to try and keep it.

As regards the footbridge, it went across to Barkers Pool House where the management offices were. My Dad was the Medical adviser for a time in the 1980s and I remember going across to visit him in the medical centre. He had a parking space in the car park and used to drive past the queue and drive up the exit ramp much to my embarrassment!

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2 hours ago, ewanarm said:

It never reopened after lockdown despite all the efforts of Sheffield City Council to try and keep it.

The problem with that is one cannot put an exact date on it then, which is most unsatisfactory !

I assume the staff were being paid under furlough, so one assumes it was technically "open" even though it was actually closed ! Therefore, one assumes, the most logical date for closure would be when shops could legally open after the first lockdown ? That would make it the 15th June, though even that is complicated by the fact that, apparently, John Lewis only opened 15 of its shops on that date.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52984687

Though ITV report "August" as its closing date !

Am I the only one who hankers after a simpler time......

 

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On 01/04/2022 at 17:46, JS2021 said:

The problem with that is one cannot put an exact date on it then, which is most unsatisfactory !

I assume the staff were being paid under furlough, so one assumes it was technically "open" even though it was actually closed ! Therefore, one assumes, the most logical date for closure would be when shops could legally open after the first lockdown ? That would make it the 15th June, though even that is complicated by the fact that, apparently, John Lewis only opened 15 of its shops on that date.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52984687

Though ITV report "August" as its closing date !

Am I the only one who hankers after a simpler time......

 

I think everyone would like a simpler time!

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On 16/03/2022 at 16:33, Lysanderix said:

I read a suggestion that the City ,having paid £5 million for the building to encourage John Lewis to remain as a Sheffield outlet ,will be demolished.A planned smaller building will be erected with the rest being turned into a park.

 Five million if they are going to pull it down must mean they were simply after the land. Prime City Centre land must be worth a lot more than the building that is there. A few years ago I was told that putting a supermarket on a piece of land sent it up to a million pounds an acre. But of course that's when places like Tesco were building them all over. Things might have changed now. 

Mind you they could be after just getting shut of big store like that, which is next to a place they have gatherings around the memorial, place it's an ugly looking building when compared to the City Hall on the other side and a smaller building more in style to the Hall and a park would be much more appealing.

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On 28/05/2022 at 23:32, History dude said:

 Five million if they are going to pull it down must mean they were simply after the land. Prime City Centre land must be worth a lot more than the building that is there. A few years ago I was told that putting a supermarket on a piece of land sent it up to a million pounds an acre. But of course that's when places like Tesco were building them all over. Things might have changed now. 

Mind you they could be after just getting shut of big store like that, which is next to a place they have gatherings around the memorial, place it's an ugly looking building when compared to the City Hall on the other side and a smaller building more in style to the Hall and a park would be much more appealing.

It probably wasn't ugly when it was brand new !

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Taste's change. Plus lots of the councillors on the City Council in the 60's and 70's had connections with concrete companies and it's likely they was some "used fivers in brown envelopes" during that time circulating in the council chambers. If you watch things like Yes Minster, you see what government departments were like. With Dodgy dealings, stupid mistakes and cover ups. I don't doubt that things like that happened in local government too.  I can tell you that I saw (in the 80's) a senior official make a mess of something that cost a fortune, when it should have cost a few hundred quid. Simply because they didn't specify the spend on the construction of the item in question. Rather than being sacked the person was promoted! 

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Married in 1970, although our first house was near Cardiff where my first job was. Use to regularly revisit both of our parents who lived in Sheffield. “Bottom Draw” items were purchased there and stored. Still have our first china tea service in a display cabinet, sadly no longer used. All of our Viners stainless steel cutlery is used daily and the Polaris stainless steel saucepans arelargely in daily use, now supplemented by additional stainless pans. Not from John Lewis.

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On 29/03/2021 at 18:56, Sheffield History said:

Screenshot 2021-03-29 at 18.52.22.jpg

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End of an era as John Lewis closes in Barkers Pool in Sheffield City Centre
Often spoken about as the heart of Sheffield City Centre, John Lewis (previously Cole Brothers) will not be here anymore

Did you shop here?

 

 

 

Yes I remember Cole brothers well in the 1970's

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