UK retailer John Lewis has committed to investing £800m investment up to 2028 to refurbish its stores. 

The retailer will initially refurbish its branches in Oxford Street, Central London, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, adding new and bigger beauty halls. 

The investment follows a 7% increase in beauty sales in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year.  

The retailer has also announced its partnership with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to launch a cookery school and café at the Oxford Street store in spring 2025.  

The 4,600ft² school will feature two classrooms offering more than 40 lessons and a 50-seat café. 

This enhancement follows the opening of Waterstones books in John Lewis Oxford Street in early October 2024.

John Lewis executive director Peter Ruis said: "The buzz is back in John Lewis and we're giving our customers even more reasons to shop in our brilliant stores. We're backing ourselves with significant investment to ensure customers get the exceptional quality, outstanding service and competitive prices they love about our unique brand." 

The Oxford Street store has undergone extensive improvements with £6.5m spent across all six floors, including the home, tech, jewellery and large electricals departments. 

The beauty hall at the Oxford Street location has been expanded by 24%, now hosting 41 beauty counters and increasing its brand offerings by 15% to 175. 

Dedicated space has been created for fragrance at John Lewis Oxford Street to offer Kilian, Parfum de Marly and Loewe products. 

The store will serve as an experimental hub for future rollouts across the entire network. 

To celebrate the revamped beauty halls and other store improvements, the retailer will host 70 customer events, scheduled between 25 and 27 October 2024. 

In early 2024, the John Lewis Partnership, owner of John Lewis and Waitrose, reportedly considered a reduction of up to 11,000 jobs before 2028.