City stores flying the flag for John Lewis
Glasgow's overall sales for the week to 14 May were up 1 per cent year-on-year while Edinburgh edged up 0.1 per cent. The performance from the two Scottish stores helped the chain to post a sales rise of 0.1 per cent for the UK as a whole, turning round the previous week's 1.4 per cent fall.
Aberdeen's John Lewis branch posted a 3 per cent fall, joining most of the chain's English stores in reporting lower sales figures.
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Hide AdJohn Lewis retail director Andrew Murphy said: "For the branches it was a 'capital' performance with London - in the guise of Peter Jones - Cardiff and Edinburgh all growing sales on 2010.
"Glasgow was the other branch 'above the line', benefiting from the build-up to digital switchover."
Murphy said strong sales of beach towels and single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras had boosted turnover at the partnership's website by 18 per cent, with technology driving sales at the high street branches.
The employee-owned business said it had sold out of Apple's iPad 2 tablet computers and that demand was high for desk fans designed by Dyson.
But Murphy warned: "Emerging from a long period where true like-for-like comparisons have been virtually impossible to determine (due to Easter and the royal wedding], we are confronted by an undoubtedly challenging retail market."
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "The fact that John Lewis' department store sales were essentially only flat year-on-year after dipping in the previous week suggests consumers are now tightening their belts again after being encouraged to splash the cash a bit more in April by Easter, the royal wedding and improved weather."