Sheffield is Britain's fifth largest city. The best loved department store in the city centre was "John Lewis"- part of a well-known nationwide chain. The shop sat in a prime position opposite Sheffield City Hall and was much appreciated by Sheffielders and visitors from surrounding districts.
Astonishingly and sadly, in the middle of the pandemic, the John Lewis board decided to shut the shop down as they sought to rationalise their business. Nobody in this city ever anticipated that our beloved John Lewis would be one for the chop. Of course, shutting the store in the middle of the pandemic meant that Sheffielders did not even have an opportunity to mount a campaign to save it.
One late October evening, I happened to be in the city centre and felt shocked and slightly disgusted that the illuminated John Lewis signs on the now empty building were still burning bright. It felt like a kick in the teeth to me. They had crept away in the middle of the night and yet they still had the gall to advertise their brand to passers -by now deprived of their familiar department store. The next day I composed an e-mail to the leader of Sheffield City Council. This is what I wrote:-
Dear Mr Fox,
Like many Sheffielders I remain aggrieved about the way John Lewis shut down their Sheffield department store in the middle of the pandemic.
Last week, I happened to be in the city centre one evening and noticed that the illuminated "John Lewis" signage is still operating - both on the Barkers Pool side of the building and on the Cambridge Street side. I found this infuriating. They have unilaterally departed the fifth largest city in the kingdom and yet they leave their signage switched on to advertise themselves. Symbolically, it is like rubbing salt in Sheffield's wounds.
I know you have more important matters to deal with but I hope you will take action over this ongoing insult and get those glaring signs turned off. Who's paying the electricity bill anyway?
Yours fraternally,
Yorkshire Pudding
Today I was pleased to learn that positive action had been taken with regard to my complaint. I received the following response from one of the leading councillors though I would have much preferred to hear that John Lewis had rescinded their original decision:
Dear Mr PuddingThank you for your email to the Leader, Councillor Terry Fox. This has been passed to me to respond.
We have been in contact and they have agreed to switch off the John Lewis signage this week
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me
Kind regards
Councillor Mazher Iqbal
Executive Member for City Futures, Development, Culture & Regeneration
A small victory but bittersweet.
Not many left in the north of England.
ReplyDeleteIt's called levelling down.
DeleteLeft in the north of England are Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester (Trafford and Cheadle) - busy middle-class shopping centres. All the others - and there are lots - are Nottingham and south of there. Sheffield shot itself in the foot with out of town Meadowhall, although it is surprising there isn't one at Meadowhall. Indeed a very good indicator of so-called levelling up.
DeleteMeadowhall opened its doors 31 years ago.
DeleteThat is really too bad. Do they have other shops across the country? Do they have an online presence? There was a wonderful arts and crafts chain of stores here in the US that completely closed a couple of years ago to go completely online. Prices didn't change and the merchandise was the same but it put thousands of people out of work! I have never shopped with them since. And, never will! The human toll when something like this happens is something that the BOD of these firms could care less about. Shame!
ReplyDeleteYes. They do have a significant online presence. Many smaller English towns and cities still have their John Lewis stores. It seems so wrong. Good for you for sticking to your principles re. that arts and crafts store.
DeleteI was hoping that it had actually opened back up and that the end to your story would be happier. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteAt least I got the cruel illuminated signs off.
DeleteI think the guy missed the point. You want the store back.
ReplyDeleteThat battle has already been fought Red.
DeleteSmall victories. Sometimes that's all we get.
ReplyDeleteWe are only little people.
DeleteI'm happy about your small victory but I think you should also complain directly to John Lewis. The least they can do is to be accountable in some small way
ReplyDeleteI signed the petition. I used their complaints process and I wrote two personal letters to the Chair and Chief Executive of John Lewis. Many other Sheffielders did likewise to no avail. No other store closure attracted so much fury.
DeleteHave you actually gone and checked whether the lights are off now? I was asking myself the same question that you put in your letter - who is paying the leccy bill anyway?
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember that Graham is something of a John Lewis fan. I wonder where his nearest shop is.
I believe there is a big one in Glasgow. I don't go into the city centre very often - especially at night so I can't yet confirm that those lights are off. I have every faith that they will be off.
DeleteI can remember the days when the Oxford Street store was the only one in the entire country but I must admit having been there a few times recently even that seems to be struggling. I think first the internet and then the covid pandemic have had a disastrous effect on a lot of businesses I do wonder whether Marks and Spencer's will be heading the same way
ReplyDeleteIn Sheffield we are especially annoyed because thirty miles away - in Leeds a big brand new John Lewis store was opened. One might argue that Sheffield paid for it.
DeleteInsult to injury is a phrase that comes to mind! Glad that your letter has had an effect.( I am now discussing with myself whether that should be " affect"! ) We are lucky to still have our nearest John Lewis store in Welwyn Garden City..about 20 mins drive away, though we don't go very often.
ReplyDeletePopulation of Welwyn = 48,380
DeletePopulation of Sheffield = 584,028
By the way you were right with "effect". It's a noun but "affect" is a verb.
Welwyn Garden City is also a very affluent city with a high percentage of the population in the upper economic groups.
DeleteSheffield and surrounding country areas have far, far more than 48,380 affluent people and besides John Lewis always provided good value for money..."Never Knowingly Undersold".
DeleteYP, if it had been profitable they wouldn't have shut it. So the Sheffield people, it would appear, were not making the most of the asset.
DeleteIt's not as simple as that. See below. Your faith in the machinations of business leaders is not one that I would subscribe to in every situation.
DeleteThe coat that I still wear for funerals is a Crombie. I bought it in George Henry Lees (a trading name of John Lewis) in Liverpool before I was 20. I have John Lewis stuff all over the house including white goods. But almost everything I buy now is bought on line. So whilst I love going into their flagship store in Glasgow I rarely spend any money there except on coffee or the occasional Apple product (despite the fact that the Glasgow Apple Store is a few hundred yards away). Because of its location between the main bus station and a principal car park and the rest of the city centre shops it must have a huge footfall. Whether it has a huge paying customer base is, I suspect, quite another matter. I hope it lives on.
ReplyDeleteHigh street shopping is difficult for all these days but this is a city of over half a million. Before it was John Lewis it was called Cole Brothers. They took advantage of the pandemic to sneak away in the night as it were.
DeleteAs I said above, YP, they would not have snuck away if they had been making a profit out of the asset. Perhaps Sheffielders prefer something less expensive - however good the value.
DeleteOf course I am aware of the brutal arithmetic of profit and loss but this story is not as straightforward as it might at first appear. The huge cost of creating a brand new store in Leeds, the lack of investment in the Sheffield store, the question of Sheffield city council's support and the connected agreements, the long history of profitability year on year, the closure of Debenhams, the "partnership" position of the staff, the track record of Sharon White (Chair of John Lewis) - and as I say the fact they chose to stop trading in the middle of the pandemic - no this is not a simple story at all.
DeleteWell done YP.
ReplyDeleteI did something instead of shrugging my shoulders and doing nothing.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that Sheffield's petition fell on deaf ears, but at least you had a speedy response to your complaint about the illuminated sign.
ReplyDeleteYears ago my mother and I would have days out in London, and always call in at John Lewis in Oxford street, at a time when it was their only store. Since then they have branched out all over the country - and closed a good number of stores too - perhaps they over-reached themselves? It's such a sad reflection of the times.
In Sheffield, John Lewis bought out Cole Brothers. It was a much-loved department store. Losing John Lewis has been like losing a vital organ in the city centre economy.
DeleteYou were heard!
ReplyDeleteI'm coming late to this -- realizing I missed some of your past posts so I'm catching up. I wonder if there was some deeper reason they closed this location, like high rent or landlord disagreements or a fault with the property or something like that. It's weird they would keep shops open in so many smaller cities and close yours. They probably figured the new Leeds store would serve Sheffield too, though it seems kind of ridiculous to expect people to travel 30 miles.
ReplyDelete