John Lewis boss quits after warnings of ‘really tough’ trading
The boss of John Lewis’ department stores has quit after less than three years in charge, days after the group’s chair warned of “really tough” trading at the retail giant.
Peter Ruis has said he will step down as managing director of John Lewis at the start of September, less than three years after he returned to the retailer in January 2024.
Last week, Jason Tarry – chair of the John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose – told staff in an internal magazine that the retailer was bracing for “lower sales and higher costs”.
The group said Ruis is leaving the department store chain to “pursue new projects,” and will be replaced by a former River Island boss as part of an “orderly succession plan”.
Will Kernan, who also served as chief executive of The White Company, will take over as managing director of John Lewis in September, stepping up from a non-executive board position.
Ruis said he will leave the business on a “much stronger footing” after leading a project of “significant investment and modernisation”.
Ruis led modernisation drive
The departing managing director oversaw John Lewis’ return to its iconic “never knowingly undersold” pledge and led an £800m store reboot programme.
“We are getting rid of the old stuffy department store and replacing it with something more experiential,” he had told The Guardian.
But John Lewis, which operates 34 department stores across the UK, has lost ground to online competitors in recent years.
Earlier this year, Tarry said the group “remains cautious” amid a “challenging macroeconomic environment,” despite posting an increase in sales and profit.
Last week, the John Lewis chair told staff that the group was preparing for a period of lower sales which are expected to slow its turnaround efforts.
Tarry: ‘Things are tough’
“We have to adjust for an immediate future that we weren’t expecting even six months ago, let alone a couple of years ago,” Tarry said in an internal interview first seen by the Financial Times.
“It is difficult when things are tough from a sales perspective, but we’re holding our nerve around our focus on margin improvement and firm stock control, rather than just trying to chase top-line sales,” he added.
But Kernan, John Lewis’s incoming managing director, struck a positive tone upon the announcement of his appointment on Monday. He said: “We have significant headroom for growth and I’m looking forward to leading the team to ensure John Lewis remains the country’s most trusted and loved retailer, in store and online.”
Elsewhere on the high street, Co-op announced on Monday that its chair Debby White will leave the group just four months after the departure of its chief executive, Shirine Khoury-Haq.
White said she is “not in a position” to commit to another three-year term once her current tenure elapses.
In March, Khoury-Haq stepped down following claims of a “toxic culture” within the business – which she said were not linked to her departure.