September marks the start of a new chapter for the John Lewis Partnership. After years of financial losses, store closures, redundancies, declining market share and internal upheaval, the owner of John Lewis and Waitrose is hoping to turn the page as it welcomes Jason Tarry as its new chairman. His task? To win back middle England.
Tarry brings with him decades of experience at Tesco, where he played a pivotal role in shaping the grocer’s strategy and success. Now the industry is betting on him to navigate the challenges of a rapidly changing retail landscape and to return the century-old partnership to stability and growth.
John Lewis struggled during the pandemic and then suffered further as the cost of living crisis meant people shied away from buying the retailer’s core products such as homewares
SONJA HORSMAN FOR THE TIMES
For the employee-owned group, recent years have been anything but smooth. It grappled with the impact of Covid-19, which forced