John Lewis had a solid Christmas — a make or break period for the retailer.

The department store, which also owns posh supermarket Waitrose, put out a relatively upbeat trading statement on Wednesday covering the 6 weeks to January 2. Here are the highlights:

• Group sales up 4.1% to £1.8 billion ($2.6 billion);
• Waitrose sales up 1.2% to £859.8 million ($1.2 billion)
• But sales are down 1.4% when you don’t include sales from new shops opened since last Christmas;
• John Lewis sales up 6.9% to £951.3 million ($1.39 billion)
• But up a slightly more modest 5.1% when you don’t include sales from new shops opened read more >>>

  Source : BusinessInsider.Com