The Grand Opening of John Lewis Cheadle

The Gazette details the opening of John Lewis Cheadle
The unique, poignant advert accompanying the opening of John Lewis Cheadle

New store, new love

At 10am, on the 25th October 1995, John Lewis Cheadle warmly welcomed its very first customers. A supplement to the Gazette of 4th November 1995, detailed every aspect of the new store. By 10.10am, the clocks department had already sold a regular clock at £299, followed an hour later by a £550 model. Elsewhere across all departments, the story was the same, as customers welcomed the new store to their hearts. The Place To Eat and the Coffee Shop at Cheadle were doing booming business, fulfilling the needs of hungry and thirsty customers both in the department store an in the link building.

A formula for the future

It was already clear that this new venture would once again sound success for the Partnership. This being so, a multitude of new opportunities had now opened up. Firstly, the option to build further stores in the northwest of England was now a distinct possibility. Secondly, the option to go side-by-side with other retailers, even to the extent where the same entrances were shared, was not only viable but positively pleasing.

Advertising John Lewis Cheadle

The ‘John Lewis Partnership’ up until the opening of the branch at Cheadle, had had little impact in the North of England. It was this lack of presence that encouraged the Partnership to instigate an initial advertising campaign for the opening of ‘John Lewis Cheadle’.

Raising awareness

The Partnership in the past had largely rejected the role of advertising. Instead efforts were intensely focused on maintaining the Partnership’s steadfast reputation for choice, value and exemplary customer service. But with no history in the area, Cheadle presented a unique challenge. An advertising campaign would raise awareness of the new shop and could differentiate the shop from surrounding competition. The campaign principally took the form of posters. The contents of the poster centred on what made the Partnership truly unique, the fact that the business is owned by all of its Partners. The theme of co-ownership is summed up aptly summed up by the advert above.

Comments about this page

  • Hi David,

    I’m very sorry, I have searched our holdings and we unfortunately do not have a good digital copy of the image. Please let me know if there is anything else that we can help you with.
    All the best,
    Imogen

    By imogen (25/08/2020)
  • Hello. My wife Marie appears as one of the central images on this picture (holding the flowers). She still has the original blown up photo. Would you still retain a good digital copy of this? Many thanks.

    By David Tivey (17/08/2020)

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