The John Lewis Partnership is a famous name in the glamorous history of UK department
stores. It is a partnership, and all of it permanent full-time employees own a share of the business,
and receive an annual profit distribution which is usually a significant fraction of their annual
salary.
The business was founded in 1864 when John Lewis set up a draper's shop in Oxford Street, London,
which developed into a department store. In 1905 he bought the Peter Jones store in Sloane Square.
In 1920 his son, Spedan Lewis, expanded earlier power-sharing policies by sharing the profits the
business made among the employees. The democratic nature and profit-sharing basis of the business
were developed into a formal partnership structure and Spedan Lewis bequeathed the company to his
employees. The creation of the first Trust Settlement - The John Lewis Partnership becomes legal.
Henceforth, all the profits were available for distribution amongst the Partners. The principle
and slogan "Never knowingly undersold" was adopted in 1925.
On 27th April 1933 John Lewis Partnership bought Jessops of Nottingham department store. This
store was the first John Lewis department store outside London. The store kept the name "Jessops"
until 2002, when after a refurbishment the store was renamed as simply
John Lewis. The partnership
has also purchased a number of other regional department stores, as well as developing department
stores in new locations. One of the most renowned regional stores is John Lewis Liverpool. The
history of John Lewis Liverpool is a tale of two shops. Still known to many of its customers as
George Henry Lee, this much-loved Liverpool department store has a proud heritage, with its genesis
in two quite different department stores, George Henry Lee and Bon Marché.
Founded in 1853 by Henry Boswell Lee, George Henry Lee started life as a bonnet warehouse at 12
Basnett Street on the corner of Leigh Street. The shop prospered and grew, gradually developing into
a department store. In 1874, the last of the Lee sons retired and control passed to Thomas Oakshott,
who, in 1887, became the first tradesman to become Lord Mayor of Liverpool, an appointment which added
to the prestige of the enterprise. In 1910, the year Thomas Oakshott died, the company had over 1,200
employees and the Basnett Street frontage was rebuilt with elegant Edwardian marble pillars. Shortly
after the First World War, the Oakshott family sold the shop to an American, H. Gordon Selfridge, who
in turn sold the business, together with the other 14 stores in his Provincial Stores Group, to the
John Lewis Partnership in 1940.
The twentieth century was a time of great growth for the John Lewis Partnership. It saw the business
grow from a single shop in London's West End into the country's biggest department store chain and, through
its Waitrose division, into a leading food retailer. Thanks to the foresight of its first Chairman, John
Spedan Lewis, the John Lewis Partnership is now one of the world's largest employee cooperatives. The company
is owned in trust for the benefit of those who work in it.
Since the first shop in Oxford Street opened 140 years ago
John Lewis has grown to over 60,000
employees, running 26 department stores and 163 Waitrose food shops with a turnover exceeding £5
billion a year.
