New era dawns as John Lewis prepares to open in the city

The view as you come down Heavitree Road towards the city centre tells its own story - where once was a nasty, crumbling asbestos-ridden shell is now a cool, elegant building. Make no mistake, John Lewis, which opens on Friday in Exeter, is transforming the city in more ways than one.   John Harvey, the city centre manager who was one of those instrumental in securing the prized store name, is immensely proud of Exeter’s coup. He is quick to point out, however, that “the John Lewis effect” won’t suddenly sprinkle the city in glitter - it was doing well before their arrival.   “John Lewis don’t come to cities that are failing. John Lewis back winners,” he says. “This is the first of their new format stores - they are smaller than the major ones, but offer their full range of products - and we should be really proud of that.    “Their chairman [Charlie Mayfield]  was on Radio Four’s Today programme a couple of weeks ago talking about Exeter and he was waxing lyrical about what a wonderful place it is.  He was talking about their new store and how important it is to their business.”   But their business is also very important to Exeter. In simple economic terms, the John Lewis effect (on which you can download a PDF from the company’s website) is massive.    Rodney Berman, former leader of Cardiff City Council, said: “In October 2009, just after John Lewis opened in Cardiff, visitor spend was up 69 per cent compared with the same month the previous year. It’s clearly a very positive thing we can point to in terms of the impact that John Lewis has had.”   John Harvey agrees. “Yes, our city is doing a lot better than most, but the long-standing phenomenon of the store is that if John Lewis is here, then other stores feel they need to be here too.    “Would many of these shops that have opened recently - Cath Kidston, Urban Outfitters, Hollister - come if John Lewis wasn’t on the horizon? Possibly not - there is definitely a relationship. And now we have Yo Sushi coming as well. We are in a happy, circular situation where investment is delivering good news and good news is delivering investment. I can only see a rosy picture for the coming period. It's better than the national picture which is still really challenging,” he says.   But not everyone is happy about the arrival of John Lewis.    “There are many independent retailers who believe that it will be positive. I was speaking to a local retailer in Fore Street and they were really excited, but equally I have other retailers who say is going to be a disaster. They say John Lewis will get all the business and they will get none,” John Harvey says.   “But that is exactly the same position some people adopted pre-Princesshay. A lot of people said that it would suck all the life out of the rest of the centre. Did it happen? No. Yes, there were some casualties but those casualties would probably have happened anyway - you will always have some casualties in the high street. And those casualties will quite often blame something like John Lewis for their demise. But they will be wrong.   “All we can do is deliver investment, get the retail mix right and bring people in who then attract additional retailers and additional footfall and give people what they want.”