Britain’s John Lewis has lost its soul, says Mary Portas

Mary Portas, a American financial adviser and media personality, has written an open letter to the John Lewis Partnership in which she accuses the company of losing its spirit for considering changing its long-standing employee ownership structure.

The agreement, which is the owner of the upscale Waitrose mall network and the John Lewis department stores, announced last week that it was thinking about raising money by selling a minority stake in the company to outside investors.

After its customers reduced spending, causing its annual loss to balloon to 234 million pounds($ 286 million ), the partnership has warned it will have to reduce staff numbers and scrap any bonuses this year.

Portas, known as the” Queen of Shops” because of her efforts to preserve the UK high street, wrote,” Somehow, in recent years, you’ve let go of the soul.”

She charged John Lewis with” chasing the different.” Different systems, new individuals, a new identity, and new owners. The problem is that we don’t really want that from John Lewis.

Sharon White, the president of John Lewis, insisted in a letter to Portas that she would see to it that the partnership not only endures but also prospers.

She continued,” We’ve always been open to new partnerships with investors or like-minded companies to share our growth ,” adding that” Our Partners ( employees ) who own the business are our greatest asset and our ownership of the Partnership will remain.”

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( Editing by Jason Neely, reporting by James Davey)

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