STAFF at John Lewis at Home were celebrating after hearing that profits at the Swindon store were up nearly 15 per cent compared to the same week last year.
The figure, 14.7 per cent, was in line with branches across the country and the company's revenues for the week to last Saturday were up 13.9 per cent on a year ago at £61.1m, with the figure also up by a quarter on the same holiday week in 2011.
John Lewis, which has 36 stores, described consumer demand as very healthy and said there had been an 'eye-catching' 58 per cent rise in website sales over the week.
Sales in electricals and home technology surged 49.4 per cent, helped by the digital switchover in London and continuing appetite for the iPad3.
This offset the effect of the miserable weather on fashion sales, which grew 0.9 per cent on last year.
Waitrose, the supermarket arm of the John Lewis Partnership, saw more modest growth, with sales up 4.4 per cent compared with the six days after Easter last year, and down 5.6 per cent on the same week in 2011.
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