John Lewis Launches Expert Services in Cheadle, Stockport 2026

Key Points

• John Lewis is growing their John Lewis experts’ service range with the help of specialized in-store concessions that include fine art, tailor-made travel, health checks, and jewelry.
• Clarendon Fine Art gallery will be set up in John Lewis Cheadle store in Greater Manchester this October after openings in Oxford Street and Southampton.
• These galleries will offer art consultation, home advisory service, bespoke framing, delivery, and installation.
• John Lewis will add 12 travel hubs run by Audley Travel, starting with nine locations in November, with three additional places planned for 2027.
• John Lewis is increasing Randox Health concessions from three stores to seven, as well as six Tish Lyon piercing and jewelry welding workshops.
• All of these moves are a part of £800 million transformation program that will make John Lewis shops even stronger with the help of services and experiences offered.
• John Lewis reports that demand for consultancy services, including home design and personal styling, grew by more than 5% this first half of the year.

Stockport (Manchester Mirror) September 28, 2026 — John Lewis is extending its in-store specialist services through new partnerships in fine art, bespoke travel, health and jewellery, with its Cheadle branch in Greater Manchester set to receive a Clarendon Fine Art gallery in October. The initiative is part of the retailer’s wider £800 million transformation programme, which seeks to give shoppers more service-led reasons to visit department stores.

As reported by Amy Ingham of Business Matters, John Lewis plans three Clarendon Fine Art galleries and 12 Audley Travel hubs across its store estate. The retailer is also expanding Randox Health concessions from three to seven and opening six Tish Lyon studios for piercing and jewellery welding.

What is John Lewis adding to Cheadle?

John Lewis is planning a Clarendon Fine Art gallery at its Cheadle shop on Wilmslow Road, Greater Manchester. The gallery is expected to open in October, following the launch of Clarendon concessions at John Lewis Oxford Street and Southampton.

As reported by Kieran Howells of Retail Gazette, the Cheadle gallery will be staffed by specialists and will offer art consultations, advice for displaying art at home, bespoke framing, delivery and installation. The offer is intended to serve first-time art buyers as well as established collectors.

Works available through the Clarendon partnership include contemporary pieces and work by recognised artists such as L. S. Lowry and Pablo Picasso, Retail Gazette reported. Business Matters additionally reported that works by Keith Haring and Thierry Guetta, also known as Mr Brainwash, are included in the galleries’ wider offer.

The planned gallery adds another specialist retail proposition to the Cheadle branch, which already promotes services including personal styling, beauty treatments, cafés and restaurants. The shop also has free parking for 1,600 cars, according to John Lewis’s store information.

Why is John Lewis expanding expert services?

John Lewis is pursuing a strategy of making its stores destinations for advice, services and experiences, as well as places to buy products. The retailer’s approach uses shop-in-shop partnerships to add specialist expertise that may not traditionally sit within a department store.

Katie Papakonstantinou, John Lewis’s director of services and hospitality, said the business was seeking to make its shops more experiential by combining retail with “moments of inspiration and discovery”, according to Retail Gazette’s report by Kieran Howells.

As reported by Amy Ingham of Business Matters, Papakonstantinou said: “Today’s shoppers want far more than products on shelves, they want inspiration, helpful expertise, and extraordinary experiences.” She said the expansion was intended to make stores “dynamic destinations that drive footfall and build customer loyalty”.

John Lewis said demand for its advisory services, including home design and personal styling, increased by more than 5% in the first half of the year. That figure provides the company’s stated commercial rationale for increasing the number and range of consultation-led in-store offers.

Which travel services are being introduced?

Audley Travel is taking over John Lewis travel concessions that had previously been operated by Kuoni, establishing its first physical retail presence through 12 dedicated hubs in John Lewis stores. The travel company specialises in tailor-made holidays, including private safaris, beach trips, cultural tours and land-and-cruise itineraries.

According to TravelMole, Audley is due to start trading from nine locations in November, with three further shops planned for 2027. The initial estate will include locations in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Norwich, Reading, Southampton and Bristol, including Oxford Street and Peter Jones in Chelsea.

Travel Gossip reported that advisers at the hubs will provide in-person consultations. The development places a travel-planning service alongside John Lewis’s existing Home Design, Personal Styling and nursery consultations.

The reports available do not list Cheadle among Audley Travel’s announced initial sites. The Cheadle development specifically identified in current coverage is the planned Clarendon Fine Art gallery.

What other concessions are planned?

The company is broadening the services available within its shops beyond art and travel. Business Matters reported that Randox Health’s presence will expand from three John Lewis locations to seven, offering health assessments and blood tests.

John Lewis also plans six Tish Lyon studios, where customers will be able to access piercing and jewellery-welding services. These concessions are part of the same shop-in-shop programme, although the published report does not specify all six locations.

The wider in-store offer already includes beauty treatments, personal styling, home-design advice, hospitality and specialist retail partners at different branches. Retail Gazette reported that the Oxford Street store lists Clarendon Fine Art, Kuoni Travel, beauty treatments, specialist cleaning and children’s fittings among its services.

How does the Cheadle store fit the wider plan?

Cheadle has already received investment under John Lewis’s wider store strategy. The retailer opened a sports and wellness concept there on 26 August after launching the format at Oxford Street, followed by Liverpool, with Glasgow scheduled later in September.

The sports department brings together sportswear, footwear, wearable technology, recovery products, AI-powered fitness and specialist services. Customers can access free gait analysis, including self-service scanning and more detailed treadmill-based assessments supported by Peloton technology.

According to John Lewis’s earlier announcement, brands available through the sports format include Nike, Brooks Running and Patagonia, while wearable-technology options include Garmin, ŌURA, Shokz and WHOOP. The programme also includes monthly “jog Lewis” run clubs across the participating locations.

The addition of a fine-art concession would therefore extend the Cheadle shop’s mix of product categories and advisory services, rather than replacing the sports and wellness investment announced earlier in the year.

What is the business context?

The expansion is being rolled out while John Lewis attempts to improve sales and profitability after a period of higher costs and pressure on consumer spending. Business Matters reported that the John Lewis Partnership’s pre-tax loss widened to £124 million in the 26 weeks to 1 August, compared with a loss of £88 million a year earlier.

Jason Tarry, the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, has said he remains confident the group will return to annual profit, according to Business Matters. The partnership has nevertheless said the full-year result will be shaped by peak trading and has remained cautious about the second half.

The £800 million programme has included the return of Topshop to 32 John Lewis stores, refurbishments at major branches including Oxford Street, additional beauty partnerships and investment in restaurants. John Lewis has also outlined targets to generate more than £100 million in additional profit through more joined-up loyalty programmes and a further £180 million through retail media activity.

Background: What is the John Lewis transformation programme?

John Lewis’s current store strategy centres on combining its own retail ranges with external brands, expert appointments, hospitality and third-party concessions. Its aim is to make physical branches useful for activities where personalised advice, demonstrations and face-to-face consultations can be important.

The new services programme follows investment in sports and wellness departments, the Platter John Lewis restaurant concept and Korean beauty concessions. Katie Papakonstantinou previously said food and drink had become an increasingly important part of the shopping experience, when John Lewis announced further hospitality investment in May.

For Cheadle, the planned Clarendon Fine Art opening would bring a specialist gallery model into a department-store setting. It will sit within a branch that has already been selected for a new sports and wellness format, suggesting John Lewis sees the Greater Manchester location as part of its evolving service-and-experience retail estate.

Prediction: How could this affect Cheadle shoppers?

Cheadle shoppers are likely to gain access to in-person art guidance and related services without travelling to a standalone gallery, once the Clarendon Fine Art concession opens as planned in October. Services such as framing, delivery and installation may be relevant to customers furnishing or updating homes, while consultations could help people unfamiliar with buying art.

The expanded offer may also encourage customers who visit for one purpose, such as sport, fashion, homewares or dining, to use other services in the same trip. That outcome is consistent with John Lewis’s stated aim of increasing store visits and customer loyalty, though its commercial impact will depend on customer demand and the execution of the new concessions.

For local retailers and galleries, the arrival of a department-store art concession may increase competition for discretionary spending in the area. For consumers, it increases the number of specialist services available within the existing John Lewis Cheadle shop, while the pricing and range of artwork will remain factors in how accessible the service is to different customers.