John Lewis continued to thrive last week as better weather had shoppers sprucing up their homes and thinking about their summer wardrobe.

Sales at the department store chain rose 15.9% to £53.22m, with Fashion up 20.7% and Home growing sales by 20.5%.

That's up on the 14.8% gain reported the week before, but less than the 17.5% overall year-on-year increase for the past five weeks.

"We matched a competitor promotion with great success, reflected by particularly strong results in areas such as fashion accessories, beauty and handbags," said the group.

The electricals department raised sales by 4.8%, although new product and technology arriving soon is expected drive further improvement.

Top-end supermarket chain Waitrose put £89.81m through its tills, 12.1% more than a year ago.

Today's figures follow Thursday's news that staff at the employee-owned business will share in a £151m bonus pot after the company reported a sharp rise in profits.

The bonus will be shared among 70,000 staff who will receive 15% of their annual salary.

Pre-tax profits at John Lewis climbed to £307m in the year to January 30, up by 9.7% from the same period a year ago.

However, the firm did warn that trading would be difficult in 2010, particularly in the second half.

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