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    You can see the complete picture here; while this post mentions it in passing.

    Oh, and have you seen this? Let us be thankful for small mercies!

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Comments

[Dark Puss]

Pleased to see JL refute that warning about closing haberdashery too.

[Cornflower]

I hope John Lewis isn't going to become 'gimmicky' - I have never felt the lack of a prosecco bar there (or anywhere else)!

[Dark Puss]

You are probably not their target customer in that respect!

[Spade & Dagger]

Love the Lady in Grey!

Our local sewing shop closed some years ago when the building was redeveloped - now it is impossible to buy a simple roll of thread etc for minor repairs without travelling huge distances (often to a John Lewis). Supermarkets sell some sewing supplies, but they are often not really suitable - very cheap thread etc. Specialist items are available online, but I only want the basics - however presumably not enough basics are sold now to make shops interested in supplying them.

[Fran H-B]

There are very few JL stores in the far SE, and the ones we have are only of the Home variety. On a few visits I had never seen any haberdashery until a new store opened in Chichester...and tucked into a corner I was delighted to find a small but useful selection of items. Hope they remain!

[Cornflower]

You are undoubtedly right.

[Cornflower]

It's astonishing, given the rise in popularity of knitting and sewing in recent years - particularly among younger people - that there aren't more shops catering for the demand which must exist.

[Cornflower]

I hope so. I remember the haberdashery in the Edinburgh shop as it was some years ago - a great deal of space in a prime area. Nowadays it occupies much less room on an upper floor, but is still there, thank goodness.

[Sarah]

When I clicked on the full picture I thought instantly of Jane Eyre and her grey silk dress and then I read it is on the cover of your edition of the novel. I've checked my newish Penguin (bought to replace my 1970s paperback which has fallen apart) and it has a detail from "Waiting" by Sir John Everett Millais in which the subject is wearing a rose pink dress, grey shawl and red bonnet. I don't think Jane would wear a red bonnet by choice. What a lovely job it must be to choose paintings for book covers. (I think you know that my edition of Rosamond Lehmann's "Dusty Answer" has the "Fair-Isle Jumper" by Stanley Cursiter on its cover. The beautiful blue scarf is the same colour as the dress worn by Corot's "Woman in Blue" on my Penguin edition of "Madame Bovary".)

[henrietta]

I was up in London before Christmas and visited the John Lewis haberdashery department. Instead of handily on the ground floor at the back, it is now several floors up, somewhat marooned, and certainly unexciting and depleted since my last visit - probably years ago.

In contrast, the department in Liberty was a joy and really buzzing with excited customers and a wealth of wonderful things on offer.

As Fran pointed out, there does seem to be a dearth of sewing/knitting shops. For my last knitting project I scoured the local area but in the end resorted to the internet for my wool. I can't help thinking that a little shop with demonstrations, clubs etc would do well.

[Cornflower]

I so agree about the pleasure of choosing paintings for book covers!

[Cornflower]

Wool shops seem to be having a renaissance, but some are more like 'corner shops' than 'delicatessens', to use a clumsy analogy. There's a place for both, of course, but if you're after something more individual and unusual, the internet is still the place to find it.
It's surprising that with the growing interest in craft generally and sewing specifically (see The Great British Sewing Bee) shops like JL aren't making more of their haberdashery departments. Again it seems to be down to the small independents to cater to that market.