Interview: Isabel Macdonald, Branch Manager, John Lewis at Home Tamworth

Graham Soult

Retail consultant, writer, blogger; helping retailers via CannyInsights.com and CannySites.com. Say hello on Twitter at @soult!

You may also like...

6 Responses

  1. Elaine pollock says:

    My partner and I nipped into your store on Friday looking for a new washing machine. I had previously looked on the Internet at makes models customer reviews and prices. John Lewis we very competitive. We had a short wait to get someone to help us and over came a young man. I instantly thought that he wouldn’t be able to advise. How wrong was I. The knowledge and information he gave us was second to none. I ordered the machine and also got information and advise on buying a dyson. Which I am about to order also from John Lewis Fantastic knowledge service and manners.

  2. Danny Bent says:

    Great! It has a cafe’ which is really good but….
    There are no shortage of eataries in Ventura Park:-
    Sainsbury’s (instore cafe’), MacDonalds, Asda (instore cafe’), M&S (instore cafe’), Costa, KFC and Roasters and
    now John Lewis so plenty of choice if you want something to eat or drink!

  3. Retrogadget says:

    You should’ve got one from Comet a few weeks ago like I did – £56 with free delivery! All gone now, sorry.

  4. Retrogadget says:

    Well, I called into John Lewis at Home in Tamworth yesterday evening. The first noticable difference to the Poole store is that the Tamworth store is on one level rather than having an upper sales area, as well as staying open longer until 8pm compared to 6.30pm at Poole. I liked the entrance foyer which led you into the main retail area – the bright orange Sagemcom Sixty retro styled telephone displayed on a side table there was certainly drawing lots of attention. Once into the main store area it’s quite easy to glance around to locate the various departments – my favourite being home technology, to which I headed. There I found a large and varied range of stock well displayed and the majority of it powered up and ready to ‘play’ with. The store was pretty busy with people, not all browsing.
    I did overhear someone asking if they had a larger range of toys, rather than the ‘token’ display in the gift section – could be an idea for a seasonal department.
    To sum up, I was not at all disappointed and I will certainly be visiting the store again, it will be particulary handy for the click and collect service.
    The only drawback – no fault of John Lewis – is the segregation of the various parts of Ventura Park and the need to keep moving from one car park to another.

    • Graham Soult says:

      Really interesting comments, Martin! I hadn’t realised that the store was only on one level (Swindon’s is on two, like Poole’s), but that would account for why it looks quite so huge.

      The orange phone caught my eye in Swindon, especially as my home office is painted and accessorised in orange already. I decided I couldn’t justify the cost though!

  5. Retrogadget says:

    Off to Tamworth this evening(Friday) to take a look at John Lewis… Sort of expecting it to be like the Poole store I visited in the summer.
    I’ll report back and give you my verdict, although given my liking for John Lewis stores I’m expecting it to be positive.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.