The John Lewis Partnership is expanding its concessions into fine art and bespoke travel, adding three art galleries and 12 travel hubs to its department stores in the next stage of an £800m transformation plan.

The employee-owned retailer is also increasing its Randox Health concessions, which offer health assessments and blood tests, from three to seven, and opening six Tish Lyon studios offering piercing and jewellery welding services.

The company hopes the concessions, known as shop-in-shops, will attract more customers and keep them on the shop floor for longer.

The galleries will be run by Clarendon Fine Art, Britain’s largest art gallery group, and feature works by artists including Picasso, LS Lowry and Keith Haring. More modern pieces from the French street artist Thierry Guetta, known as Mr Brainwash, will also be available across a range of price points.

Two of the galleries are already open, at John Lewis’s Oxford Street and Southampton stores, and a third is set to launch in Cheadle, Greater Manchester. The galleries offer personalised art consultancy services.

The travel hubs will be operated by Audley Travel, an Oxfordshire-based tourism and advisory company whose trips range from private safaris to beach stays and river cruises.

John Lewis said demand for its advisory services, which include home design and personal styling, had risen by more than 5 per cent over the first half of the year.

Katie Papakonstantinou, director of services and hospitality at John Lewis, said: “Today’s shoppers want far more than products on shelves, they want inspiration, helpful expertise, and extraordinary experiences.”

She added that the expansion aimed to transform its stores into “dynamic destinations that drive footfall and build customer loyalty”.

Papakonstantinou has previously linked in-store experiences to customer loyalty, when the retailer announced plans for more cafés and restaurants in its stores last year.

The expansion forms part of a turnaround led by Jason Tarry, the chairman, who is seeking to revive sales after a period of rising costs and pressure on consumer spending.

The partnership’s interim results, published on 10 September, showed pre-tax losses widening to £124m in the 26 weeks to 1 August, from £88m a year earlier. Tarry has said he is “confident” that the company will turn an annual profit.

In the same statement, the partnership said it remained cautious about the second half and that its full-year outcome would be determined by peak trading.

The £800m investment programme has already brought Topshop back to 32 John Lewis stores, alongside refurbishments of key branches including the Oxford Street flagship.

Earlier this year the retailer set out plans to grow its share of the beauty market with its first Korean beauty concessions, seeking to tap into consumer interest in cosmetics and skincare from South Korea.

That included launching 20 Korean skin and haircare brands online and opening Skin Cupid concessions in its Cambridge, Kingston and Leeds stores over the summer.

John Lewis has also set a target of generating more than £100m in extra profits through more “joined-up” loyalty programmes, and a further £180m from its retail media business, which includes promotional partnerships with brands.

The retailer has separately been investing in video content to improve its visibility in AI search, launching a YouTube chatshow ahead of Christmas.

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