"Brand ambassador" Karen Lord likes to be best but accepts that as long as the overall John Lewis business benefits, she has to be happy.

Apart from external competition, John Lewis Bluewater faces rivals from within.

John Lewis at Home opened in Tunbridge Wells, and later this year a John Lewis store opens at the Westfield centre in Stratford, ready for the Olympic Games. The John Lewis Westfield MD is Noel Saunders, who previously ran John Lewis Bluewater.

John Lewis's Click and Collect service now accounts for around a fifth of johnlewis.com orders. Online sales in Kent and the surrounding areas now make up 25 per cent of John Lewis's total annual sales at Bluewater.

Lord insists that "migration" does not worry her too much, as long as it stays within the business.

As a "brand ambassador", she is pleased it stays in John Lewis. "This is about the health of the business."

These are tough times for retailers and John Lewis is no exception.

Yet its Bluewater store enjoyed a record-breaking 2010, racking up a 12 per cent sales increase, the best in the 27-store business.

Although 2011 has been more challenging, the store has seen sales growth of 16 per cent, also the Partnership's highest. It won a best service and shopkeeping award.

Karen Lord moved from the Solihull store just over a year ago. She took over from previous managing director Simon Russell and can be pleased with her first-year report.

She plays down any personal responsibility for the improved performance, and no doubt some of it is down to the £22 million investment, including the new food hall, before she arrived.

However, one area where she is happy to take some credit is the formerly under-performing fashion department.

She stepped up training, changed personnel and revamped the layout.

"It was all about getting the right people in the right place," she said. "Sales are on the rise."

Landing the Bluewater job marked Lord's card as a high-flier.

The role of running a flagship store and its 1,200-strong workforce is a test of Lord's leadership mettle.

Much was already running smoothly. But she thought sales could be even higher with good motivation and engagement.

The store's strapline is "our business, our future," underscoring the co-owned nature of the business and the financial benefit they stand to derive from exceptional performance.

She said: "Our cultural journey is set in the context of that motto, and that for me means trying to stretch the culture to leverage the benefits of the fact we are a co-owned business. Partners have a vested interest."

She says she found a sense of urgency and "team" when she arrived. John Lewis may be renowned as a commercial shopkeeper but Lord wants it to be equally renowned for "being the best developers of people and having the best team of sellers in the business."

Her leadership journey has taken her from general manager to managing director.

She says it's about shaping and engaging. "If you get your partners behind the vision, they will absolutely motor."

But she confesses to getting the odd thing wrong, including extending Christmas opening hours until 11pm.

She felt this did not get as much partner buy-in as she would have liked because she delegated communication rather than do it herself.

Lord, 40, likes to keep fit at the local David Lloyd centre. She believes fitness is crucial to effective business performance. She also enjoys sailing.

She lives with husband Simon, also a John Lewis senior executive, in a rented property in Greenhithe and hopes to find a house soon now that her Solihull home has sold.

She seems like a workaholic but insists she makes time for herself. And when the Lords go on holiday, she switches off her phone. "They need time off from me as well," she says.