by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Spending at John Lewis Bluewater has dipped slightly this year because of competition from its own stores.

Andy Street, the retailer's managing director who launched the Bluewater store - then the first in Kent - in 1999, revealed that overall sales were down but insisted it was no surprise.

The decision to open At Home stores in Tunbridge Wells and Croydon, and a new department store at Westfield Stratford City, had been taken in the full knowledge that it would lead to some "cannibalisation."

"Last year, Bluewater was our best performing shop by a mile so they have a high watermark to defend," he said. "But their reduction in sales this year is a little closer to the group average.

"We have opened in Croydon and Tunbridge Wells, and we've opened in Stratford and there is some cannibalisation. The difference when all that is taken out between Bluewater and the rest of the country is about 2%. We are a bit behind but it is all perfectly explicable in terms of what we've chosen to do."

When there was a nearby store, customers tended to shop there regularly and make an occasional trip to Bluewater. That effect was likely to continue when a new At Home store opens in Ashford.

Meanwhile, John Lewis appears to be bucking the national sales trend. Despite yesterday's British Retail Consortium survey reporting the worst retail sales growth for six months - down 1.6% - the Partnership said sales to December 3 rose 9.6% year on year.

Mr Street walked the shopfloor with current managing director Karen Lord, both pictured above, and chatted to staff, many of whom had joined him 12 years ago. He said: "We look well placed going into these crucial weeks. The combination of shops and online is really working for us."

His only fear would be a Eurozone or further banking crisis "because that would knock consumer confidence a further few notches." But there were winners and losers even in a tough economy and "we know what we've got to do to be one of the winners."