From 1925 to 2022, John Lewis had a policy known as "Never Knowingly Undersold," which promised to match or beat lower prices offered by national high street competitors.

[9][10] The Oxford Street store received a Royal Warrant in 2008 from Queen Elizabeth II as "suppliers of haberdashery and household goods.

In 1937, grocery company Waitrose, consisting of ten shops and 160 employees, was taken over by John Lewis, and today operates as its supermarket arm.

Also in 1953, the partnership bought Herbert Parkinson, a textile manufacturer, a business which still makes duvets, pillows and furnishings for John Lewis.

[21] Before the relaxation of UK Sunday trading laws in 1994, John Lewis stores closed on Mondays to allow staff a full two-day "weekend".

The John Lewis Partnership was the first department store group in the UK to adopt central buying, launching the 'Jonell(e)' name for own-brand merchandise in 1937.

Many stores acquired by John Lewis & Partners retained their original names for many years, including Tyrrell & Green in Southampton until 2000,[22] Bonds of Norwich until 2001, Trewins in Watford until 2001, Jessop & Son in Nottingham until 2002,[23] Bainbridge's in Newcastle-upon-Tyne until 2002, and Cole Brothers in Sheffield until 2002.

All have now been rebranded John Lewis, with the exception of Peter Jones in south west London and Knight & Lee in Southsea which was closed in 2019[24]).

In June 2004 John Lewis announced plans to open its first store in Northern Ireland at the Sprucefield Park development, the province's largest out of town shopping centre, located outside Lisburn and 10 miles (16 km) from Belfast.

As of January 2014 the €1.2 billion development is on hold and John Lewis are still seeking a location in Northern Ireland for a flagship department store.

In February 2011 it was announced that John Lewis was appointed as the Official Department Store provider for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The completion date of 2014 was pushed back to autumn 2015 due to complications regarding the construction of the centre, including issues relating to car parks and taxi ranks.

The new smaller format department stores will hold John Lewis's core lines of Home, Electrical and Fashions, all tailored to the local area.

John Lewis had been looking for a site in Leeds for a while, even considering the Headingley cricket ground, and are happy they are at long last filling a major regional gap.

[37] In October 2018 recruitment website Indeed named John Lewis & Partners as the UK's eighth best private sector employer,[38] based on millions of employee ratings and reviews.

[40] John Lewis opened a store as the showpiece of the Bond Street retail development in the cathedral city of Chelmsford, Essex in 2016.

In October 2017 the remodelled and extended Westgate Shopping Centre reopened in the medieval university city of Oxford, with a large John Lewis as the development's anchor store.

Over 2,000 John Lewis staff were already temporarily working in Waitrose stores to cope with large grocery demands due to the coronavirus outbreak.

[47] In February 2022 John Lewis announced that later in the year it would end its "never knowingly undersold" pledge to match prices on branded products from other national high street retailers.

[48] On 27 January 2024 John Lewis announced plans to cut up to 11,000 jobs over the next five years as part of a strategy to return the business to profitability.

[53] The Oxford Street store, originally opened in 1864 (rebuilt in 1953 following significant bomb damage in World War II), is the largest operated by the partnership.

[54] On Thursday 17 June 2015, a new John Lewis at home store opened in Horsham, West Sussex along with a branch of Waitrose that relocated from the town centre.

[55] In the summer of 2014, John Lewis opened a small airside store in the newly rebuilt Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport.

[58] In spring 2016, John Lewis homeware confirmed it planned to enter the Irish market with a concession based at Arnotts Dublin store on Henry Street.

As of August 2017[update] these plans had not been confirmed and more recently, it was announced that the Sheffield John Lewis would close because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.