The sales for the department store group John Lewis rose 5.6% last week, the credit of which it gives to this summer's "staycation" trend and the poor weather.

"The chain saw growth at all but eight of its stores with the figures coming after revenues increased by 6.3% in the previous week," said a source.

Because of the poor weather and good responses to new ranges, the boost was put down to increased footfall.

The strongest gain was seen by John Lewis's Southampton store, with a rise of 15.9%.

Leading the way for the chain of stores, the home department reported a sales rise of 10.5% against last year; followed by fashion with 8.2% rise; while a plunge of 1.9% was seen in electrical and home technology due to discounting strategy adopted by rival stores.

The retail bellwether said online sales jumped by 22.8%, witnessing strong trading at its 27-strong department store business.

Sales remained strong after a 9.5% rise for the week, at grocery business Waitrose, which is also part of the John Lewis Partnership.

It was forwarded by the group in March that its profits declined last year amid "deteriorating conditions".

While underlying profits for the partnership fell 26% to £279.6m, sales hiked 3% to £6.97bn.

(Via TopNews United Kingdom. Contributed by Shivdeep Singh)