John Lewis plans Sunday sales of returned and cosmetically damaged furniture, TVs and appliances at its Crossways warehouse, up to 24 a year. Comment by 16 Nov.

John Lewis wants to open its Dartford warehouse to shoppers for Sunday sales of returned and cosmetically damaged goods. The sales would run on up to 24 Sundays a year at its building on Claire Causeway, on the Crossways Business Park.

The John Lewis Partnership applied to Dartford Borough Council on 23 October for a change of use covering part of the warehouse (planning application 26/01227/COU).

What would be on sale

The planning statement says only discounted, non-food items “with cosmetic damage or returned by customers” would be sold. It lists:

  • large electrical appliances
  • audio and TV
  • furniture
  • mattresses
  • sports equipment

Shoppers could take items away on the day or pay for John Lewis’s two-person home delivery. Payment would be at tills inside the building (planning statement, Firstplan for the John Lewis Partnership).

How the sales would work

The application sets out these limits:

What is proposed
Days Sundays only, up to 24 a year
Hours Six hours, somewhere between 10am and 5pm
Sales floor About 900 sq m of the ground floor (946 sq m with the collection point and walkways)
Staff 14 John Lewis Partners on site for each sale
Parking The 70-space car park off Claire Causeway, with marshals

The warehouse is about 5,575 sq m. It already stores and processes the large “two person” items customers return to the John Lewis store at Bluewater.

At the moment, the statement says, those returns are taken to John Lewis’s outlet shop in Swindon or sold through third-party auction sites. Selling them at Crossways would cut that transport, it argues, and free up floor space at Bluewater for the lines customers want most.

John Lewis already has permission for similar sales at distribution sites in Glasgow, Leeds, Solihull and Weybridge, according to the statement.

How busy it could get

The transport statement uses figures from the Glasgow sales:

  • about 588 customers per sale
  • an average of three people per car, so about 196 cars
  • about 43 cars an hour arriving in the busiest first three hours

It says customers mostly arrive by car or van because of the size of the goods. The site is also near Stone Crossing station, and Fastrack route A stops on Crossways Boulevard every 15 minutes on Sundays (transport statement, Glanville).

What the council has said so far

The planning statement says council officers backed the idea at a pre-application meeting on 18 August. It reports that officers found 24 sale days and a six-hour window acceptable, and asked for the hours, days and type of goods to be limited. That is the applicant’s account, not a decision.

The site is in flood zone 3. The Environment Agency replied on 28 October that it has no objection (Environment Agency response).

The application does not say when the first sale would be held.

What it means for you

If you want a cheaper sofa, TV or washing machine. Nothing is on sale yet. If the council approves the plan, there would be roughly two Sunday sales a month on average, at a warehouse a short drive from Bluewater.

If you want to comment. The register gives two deadlines. Use the earlier one to be safe:

Deadline Date
Standard consultation expiry Monday 16 November
Neighbour consultation expiry Friday 20 November
Council’s target for a decision Friday 18 December

Comment on the application page, quoting 26/01227/COU (dates tab, Dartford Borough Council). Our Dartford planning applications guide explains how.

If you live near Crossways Boulevard. The busiest Sunday hours would add about 43 cars an hour on Claire Causeway, by John Lewis’s own estimate.

Sources