On Saturday 16 September, John Lewis will launch The Residence, the first ever fully furnished in-store apartment, offering customers the ultimate-try-before-you-buy experience. Opening exclusively at John Lewis Oxford Street, Cambridge and Liverpool, with opportunities to stay overnight and host private dining experiences, everything in The Residence will both be for sale and be exclusive to John Lewis as part of the 'Only Here' Autumn Exclusives campaign.

The Residence will be open daily and is a space for customers to try, experience and shop; recognising that jumping on a bed, sitting at a dining table or trying out a sofa for size is never quite the same in a shop as doing these things at home. The expert Residence team will be on hand to help customers shop for their lifestyle and will encourage them to touch, rearrange, sit and play with product.

Each Residence will include an expansive living and dining area, a fully furnished bedroom and the Oxford Street flagship store will also feature a fitted kitchen (with matching wine cooler), a study and an indoor terrace that will overlook Cavendish Square. To bring the outside in, the terrace will feature clean-air plants and orange trees, all fresh from the nursery at the John Lewis Partnership Leckford estate in Hampshire.

The Residence will have all the characteristics of a home; a daily newspaper delivery, fresh coffee, its own scent and the sound of the radio in the background. Cupboards and wardrobes will be bursting with the latest Autumn Winter products across home, fashion and technology. In true through-the-keyhole manner, customers will be able to root around and try absolutely everything within the space.

Sleep and dine at London's hottest new address: 300 Oxford Street

For a select number of customers, Saturdays at The Residence will offer the ultimate night-at-the-museum style experience. Customers will be able to apply for an overnight stay complete with an exclusive opportunity to explore the flagship shop after the doors have closed to customers. The Residence sleepover will include:

• Private use of The Residence from 6.30pm until 9am the following day.
• The choice of either:
  • 60 minutes of after-hours private shopping time, with access to the whole department store, to shop at leisure with the help of an expert personal shopper.
    Or
  • An access all-areas tour of the department store. Going behind the scenes and visiting spaces normally reserved for John Lewis Partners, including the underground stockroom consisting of Despatch Road, Tin Pan Alley and The Dog Leg Walk.
• A private Residence concierge on hand for the whole of the stay, to ensure everything is as comfortable as possible and that guest's favourite Waitrose nibbles are available for midnight snacking.
• A checklist of elements that can be tailored to make The Residence feel like a home away from home and offer an opportunity to test new products. This will include a choice of pillow, scent and a selection of beauty products.
• A Waitrose breakfast basket and newspapers delivered the following morning to help ensure the perfect lie-in.

Customers will also be able to apply to sleepover in The Residences at John Lewis Liverpool and Cambridge.

Dine at the Residence

Once a week at The Residence in Oxford Street customers will be able to apply to host their dream dinner party for up to ten people. During the privately catered experience an expert chef will prepare and serve a special menu with guests able to request their favourite cocktail to be shaken or stirred by The Residence's mixologist on arrival.

To ensure a completely unique and tailored evening, customers will pre-select their music playlist and choose their preferred table setting from the John Lewis collections, which will be prepared for their arrival. To end the evening, customers can either while the night away with a selection of dinner party board games, or cosy up in front of on one of the shop's biggest and best plasma screens.

Brunch at The Residence in Liverpool and Cambridge

At The Residence in Liverpool and Cambridge, customers will be able to apply to host their own private brunches. Every Saturday up to six guests can enjoy a two hour dining experience that will include Mimosas and freshly prepared brunch dishes. Guests will receive a newspaper delivery of their choice and will be able to enjoy morning radio as well as personal shopping advice from The Residence concierge.

Learn new skills at The Residence

For those unable to book an exclusive sleepover or dining experience, The Residence remains open to all throughout shop opening hours, and will host a series of free customer workshops. During the day shoppers will be able to pop-in and learn niche skills for the home from expertly trained John Lewis Partners. The informative workshop series will include:

• Night night, sleep tight
  • Learn how to choose the duvet and pillow that’s best for you; learn the difference between duck and goosedown. Attendees at this sleep workshop can get the expert lowdown on finding the perfect sleep set up.
• A lightbulb moment
  • This lighting workshop will help explain everything from bulbs and wattage to creating mood lighting, for participants to leave armed with the knowledge of how to illuminate their home with confidence.
• Tables of the unexpected
  • For those who love to host parties at home, the Residence’s dining workshop will give shoppers hints and tips on how to make it a showstopper; from hosting a cocktail hour with canapes to dressing the perfect dinner table.

Peter Cross, Director of Customer Experience, explains: 'The Residence is the ultimate try-before-you-buy experience, available exclusively in three John Lewis shops this Autumn. We want our customers to discover an altogether different way of shopping. By encouraging them to bounce up and down on a bed and sit around a dressed dining table, we are aiming to create an environment which is a close as possible to their homes. Our expert partners will be on hand to help customers shop, explore, dine or even stay the night.'

The Residence is part of the 'Only Here' Autumn Exclusives campaign which celebrates the very best of the new season products, collections and brands that are exclusive to John Lewis. Customers are able to shop, view and experience Only Here in all shops and on JohnLewis.com

Notes to editors

To apply 
Customers can apply for the chance to sleepover, dine or brunch at the Residence by visiting the Concierge team in Oxford Street, Cambridge or Liverpool over two consecutive weekends (Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 or Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 of September). Customers will be selected at random and the lucky ones will be contacted by the Residence team to confirm the date of their John Lewis experience.

For full details of all activity at The Residence, including workshops, customers should visit www.johnlewis.com/content/the-residence

John Lewis - John Lewis operates 48 John Lewis shops across the UK (34 department stores, 12 John Lewis at home and shops at St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 2) as well as johnlewis.com. John Lewis,  'Best In-Store Experience 2017', 'Best Furniture Retailer 2017,' 'Best Homewares Retailer 2017'¹, stocks around 350,000 separate lines in its department stores and johnlewis.com across fashion, home and technology. Johnlewis.com is consistently ranked one of the top online shopping destinations in the UK.  John Lewis Insurance offers a range of comprehensive insurance products - home, car, wedding and event, travel and pet insurance and life cover - delivering the values of expertise, trust and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand.

¹Verdict Consumer Satisfaction Awards 2017

You can follow John Lewis on the following social media channels:
www.johnlewis.com/twitter
www.johnlewis.com/facebook
www.johnlewis.com/youtube.

Enquiries

For further information please contact:

Alicia O'Brien
Senior Communications Officer
Email: alicia.o'brien@johnlewis.co.uk
Telephone: 0207 798 3539