John Lewis & Partners is a chain of high-end department stores operating throughout the United Kingdom. Concessions are also located in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. The chain is a employee-owned mutual organization known as the John Lewis Partnership. It was created by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis, in 1929. It is currently the largest co-operative in the UK. The chain has promised since 1925 that it is "never knowingly undersold" - it will always at least match a lower price offered by a national high street competitor.The first John Lewis store was opened in 1864 in Oxford Street, London, and there are now 51 stores throughout Great Britain. The first John Lewis concession in the Republic of Ireland opened in a Dublin Arnotts store in October 2016. The first Australian John Lewis concession opened in a Sydney Myer store in November 2016.
On 1 January 2008, the Oxford Street store was awarded a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II as "suppliers of haberdashery and household goods". John Lewis & Partners Reading is also the holder of a Royal Warrant from the Queen in 2007 as suppliers of household and fancy goods. The John Lewis & Partners Christmas advert was first launched in 2007 and it has since become something of an annual tradition in British culture, and one of the signals that the countdown to Christmas has begun in the UK.
