After a strong Easter, John Lewis looks to Olympics

John Lewis yesterday started to roll out its London 2012 shop-in-shops to all its branches, as it revealed strong trading over Easter.

The retailer, a sponsor of the Games, will display up to 3,000 official Olympic products at its 29 department stores, as well as space for London 2012 merchandise in its seven John Lewis at Home formats.

Peter Ruis, the buying and brand director at John Lewis, said: "The Olympics is good for business... and over the coming weeks and months it will be amazing for business." He said it enjoyed "stonking" sales over the bank holiday weekend.

Meanwhile, UK retailers posted a 3.6 per cent leap in total sales in March, while like-for-like revenues grew 1.3 per cent, according to the British Retail Consortium. Chains were flattered by weak comparable sales in March 2011, when like-for-like sales fell 3.5 per cent.